Born from the Shadows
by ninjakilla
Summary: (SI/OC) When you're reincarnated, life isn't so bad and death isn't so scary. A not entirely lazy Nara and a whole world of potential. Starts with canon for a while, generally veering off the tracks as we go.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This is my first story. I think it starts off pretty slow but picks up quickly enough. The main character is a self-insert/OC with very little general knowledge on the Naruto-verse. Some of the stuff she remembers is accurate and other things are dead wrong. Also, just because she has an adult mind doesn't mean she doesn't think like a kid sometimes. She's gonna grow up as the story progresses. It won't be a cannon rehash and somethings are different just because I say they're different, (I.e some characters are gonna be different ages), but I plan on being clear about it so don't worry. Unfortunately, with my plot in mind, the cannon plot is going to be followed to a certain extent before it branches off.

Please let me know what you think or if you have any criticism on how to improve!

I don't plan on the story going any higher then a T but I will change it to an M if necessary. Mostly T for violence and language. Nothing really explicit is planned as of now.

Edited on 2/13/18

I own nothing here, this is all from the work Naruto by Kisihmoto.

~Prolouge~

Every action taken in life is dictated by choice. Every choice leads to a consequence. Even if you chose to do nothing, you have made a _choice._ Obviously knowing this now, I might have made different choices, for either life, but alas there's no way to change the past. To start, I might have chosen to leave the library a few minutes earlier, or maybe a few minutes later. Maybe I would choose to not take the alleyway shortcut. I would choose to run instead of gawk when the stranger confronted me with a knife.

But hindsight is twenty- twenty, and it's too late to change anything. I _did_ choose to leave at the same time as always, a creature of habit. I chose to take the shortcut because I always take the shortcut and have never minded shaving the 5 minutes off of my commute. And unfortunately when confronted with a stranger with a knife (not a stranger- hadn't I seen him around recently? Had he been following me?) I chose to stare at my demise. I can't take back those choices and so the consequences of my actions stay with me. Haunt me even.

I can't change my past….but I've chosen to change my future.

Unbeknownst to me, in a far off place, a world away, a female ninja is giving birth. She's also surrounded by choices, just like I was. No one around her knows who she is or where she is from. They don't even know that she's a ninja because she's been trained for far many years in secrecy.

As occasionally happens with births, there are complications and she is given an ultimatum. Save the child or save herself.

In one world she choses herself; the baby is being born prematurely and survival outside of the womb is unlikely. Logically, it doesn't make sense for them both to die. She is a practical and within the confines of her mind, she is cold and analytical.

In another world, she choses to save her child. At the cost of her own life, she gives birth to a tiny little girl, so slight that it is unlikely that she will survive the next few minutes, let alone manage to live on past that.

She gives birth to _me._

Not that I was aware at the time. She didn't have much time after my birth. While she bled out, the ninja apparently just stared at her newborn, while the hospital staff looked on sadly. They don't bother to take the child from the dying mother; neither will live much longer, and perhaps it is a kindness to face their first and final moments together. And besides, right now this mother deserves to believe that the child will have a chance, if just to make her death less painful.

Her last words-my mothers last words- as she looks upon this stranger- a child who is screaming, fearful at the new environment; not understanding why she can't see and uncomprehending how an attack by her stalker has ended up with blurry vision and discomfort- are breathy but cheerful, reminiscent of her brother, her father, her family.

"Don't always be so troublesome, hm?"

In one world the child is never born. Life goes on and nothing changes. However, in another world I am born as Kageko. I am raised an orphan and a reincarnated soul. And in this world things do change, for better and for worse.

~Linebreak~

Living in an orphanage was a new experience for me. Of course I didn't realize it right away, but after a few months when I could finally concentrate and hold onto thoughts for more then a few seconds, it was the obvious conclusion. The blankets and sheets for my cot were old and threadbare. The faded yellow walls were in desperate need of a new coat of paint. The whole place looked like it could use some TLC and a lot of cash to help it along. And yet it was, for all intents and purposes, happy. The caretakers were kind and bubbly ladies who only had soft words for the young children in the nursery with me. While I didn't understand what they were saying, I could understand the feelings they exhibited: kindness and care, love and devotion.

Even though I understood that I was in an orphanage, it took me some time to realize what had happened. To put it all together. In the brief moments before becoming distracted from whatever my caretakers were saying, I began to understand the world around me again. Slowly, ever so slowly, my vision returned to me, allowing me to focus on the environment around me. (The cracked yellow walls with beautiful but old tapestries having from them the made me feel so relaxed in their familiarity) I began to process my thoughts, and more importantly my memories. I came to terms with that fact that I had died.

Miracles could occur of course, but _I was there_ and there was no coming back from the injuries I had received. I shuddered to remember my last moments-He had slashed at me, tearing open first my back when I flinched away from him, then eagerly ripping into my chest and stomach as I lay on the ground unable to fight. And then he repeated the morion over and over and over again- I must have seemed a sickly child because the caretakers hovered over me more so then the other cribs in the room whenever I had these shivers.

While in my old life I had been a student- soon to graduate from a mid tier medical school-here I was starting all over again. In my old life, I had known nothing more then school, not even managing to complete by residency before I died. I had been so nervous to preform procedures on actual, real, live patients. I had worked my entire life to achieve, always aiming to be the best. Part of me wondered if I should skip grades and jump ahead like all those wonder kids graduating Harvard at 9.

But I also wondered if it was what I still wanted. That constant pressure to succeed. That neverendind cycle of self hate for not being as perfect as I wanted to me. And a smaller part of me wondered if I could even be a doctor still; would I now fear knives and blood after my unfortunate end?

At that last thought, I pushed the thought aside to focus on the more pressing matter of my reincarnation.

Day in and day out, I spent my childhood mulling over ideas (Why was I reincarnated? How? Where? WHY?) and tried to keep up a cute baby persona. As I aged, I could now think and not lose concentration right away, I liked the attention I received from my caretakers. And they spent more time hanging out near me when they thought I needed help with things. Besides, they still remembered me as that sickly child, awed by my apparent will to survive, healthy now but undeniably on my death throes just months earlier. So slight and small, I would probably never outgrow the effects of being born prematurely. I was oblivious. to their thoughts of course. I just really appreciated that I got read _waaaay_ more stories then the other orphans.

I did take advantage of the attention I was given. I was surrounded by other children, all very young and subject to frequent bouts of tears. Every bit of attention was priceless and I latched on to. While my caretakers were kind and devoted, they were clearly over worked. Especially as I got older and the orphanage got even busier.

The ratio of children to adults would have overwhelmed old me. New me was trying to take it easy in this life. Instead of joining in the cacophony of tears, I tried to use my time relaxing by myself, making as little trouble for my caretakers as I could.

Eventually, I began to pick up the language. Small words here and there that eventually clued me into to it being Japanese. My child brain soaked it up like a sponge. By 8 months I had said my first word. By a year, I was able to use small sentences, albeit simply. I didn't show off; just because I could, didn't mean I should. Still, being able to communicate gave me a modicum of independence back.

I was told the same stories every day, and some where familiar versions of my old childhood tales. Other were different but still distinctly children tales full of morals and lessons. There was also my mom's death which was spun as a bedtime story, but I figured my grasp of the language was still lacking. I was told my mother had died after being attacked by random men -how similar and yet different to my own demise- but had fought back. Apparently fighting off her assailants had pushed her into an early labor.

When I was first learning the language I had been happy to just let the story slide, but as I got older I really began to relate to this age-inappropriate anecdote. I had died when my apparent stalker, may he never rest in hell, had attacked me on the street. Meanwhile, the aunties in the prhansge wove stories about this strong woman that I had never met, willing to run and fight with all her strength for her unborn child. And come off a winner.

Now, it wasn't that someone fighting back from their attackers was a strange concept. I comepltyl idolized this woman because of her ability to do what I had not been able. It kind of felt like a quirk of fate that my mother had gotten the bastards attacking her while I hadn't managed anything like that.

BUT, I was definitely a little bothered by the phrasing I was slowly picking up on. When I was younger, I didn't bother to question why they would treat the murder of my mother as a bedtime story. The other stories actually could be much more violent, believe it or not, and besides I was genuinely curious and more then a little precocious.

I finally got fed up with the inconsistencies when I as old enough to realize that there was some funny business going on. I was sitting on the counter in the kitchen watching my favorite caretaker prepare lunch for us orphans. At only 2 years old, I was no help to her, but she was kind enough to let me sit here and keep her company. A lot of the caretakers didn't mind me because I knew how to sit down, shut up, and act like I didn't exist. Sometimes they even forgot I was there.

And that worked just fine for me because I was lazy enough to prefer sitting around instead of running around the little plot of land the orphanage had out back. Ameiko was again telling me the story while I clutched my stuffed rabbit focusing intently on her face, earnestly trying to make sure I understood her retelling of my mothers heroic story. This time for sure I was noticing some fuckery that had slipped my notice when Japanese was still new on my tongue.

"She must have been here for the festival because she was dressed in a beautiful kimono, and she had a matching parcel." Ameiko turned from her task of chopping vegetables to brush my fringe from my face and smile at me kindly, "She was so pretty Kage! You'll grow up to look just like her!" I blinked lazily at her, waiting for her to get to the interesting part of my now favorite bed time story.

Ameiko went back to the food but continued on, "She was so beautiful that some of the men around wouldn't leave her alone.- Beautiful people have the hardest path to walk in this world after all!-They followed her and eventually when she ran they chased her into the ally by Lady Makina-sans shop."

Everything up to here was fine and dandy. A little heavy on the 'grow up to be pretty' element, but I guess orphans gotta aspire to something and the caretakers had seen my genetics. No, the weird part was coming up, and internally my brain kicked two gears faster knowing the odd part was coming, but externally I tried not to show any reaction.

"and then, when they wouldn't go away," Her voice dropped to a whisper. "She grabbed them with her shadow and stopped them! Because you can't fight your own shadows!" While a little sparse for details compared to the version I was used to, this was the general story. But surely I was misunderstanding Ameiko.

"From shadows?" my quiet voice startled Ameiko. While at 2 years old I was nearly conversational in Japanese, I rarely spoke aloud and even my favorite house mother was unused to my voice.

Ameiko cocked her head at me and smiled, "Ne, ne Kage! _With_ the shadows. Your okaa-san was very special, Hn?"

I blinked uncomprehending. 'So I hadn't misunderstood the story. But _with_ shadows?' I couldn't understand Ameiko's meaning. Ameiko had gone back to the lunch while I processed this new information. "How?" I demanded, my face betraying my confusion.

"Your okaa-san must have been very clever, ya know?" Ameiko once again gave me a bright smile, but her attention was clearly on lunch and not me.

'Better for it' I thought. This was a strange turn for this new life of mine. People could use shadows? And it wasn't strange? Like it was generally accepted as something that people sometimes just did?

What the fuck.

Maybe I was biased or Amieko was insane. Telling tall tales to the orphan who always clutched a toy rabbit and stared at everything with wide dark eyes.

'Or maybe I'm Harry Potter living with the muggles' The quick reminder of my old favorite bed time story made my heart hurt.

I left the kitchen soon after, still quiet and thinking over what I had heard. 'Nope' I decided. 'I've _got_ to speak to another auntie and check this." Having made my mind up, I made my way slowly out of the orphanage.

Stepping out the open front door, I was bombarded with bright sunlight and a grassy front lawn. While missing the mulch of my first childhood, it reminded me of every playground ever from my first life. Children raced around playing tag and hopscotch. The house mothers watching the children had grouped together and were standing in the shade of my third favorite tree to take a nap under. The reason this tree was only my third favorite was because it had far too many gaps in the leaves and when the sun was directly overhead, the beams would wake me up, hence lacking the superiority of trees one and two.

I made my way over to the aunties and tugged on a woman with short purple hair's shirt sleeve.

'Kira', I thought to myself."Oba-chan," I began, using the informal name all the children used with the housemothers, "Tell story." Kira giggled at me, and crouched down to my level to pinch my cheek, then grab me by the waist and swing me to her hip. I sat comfortably in her arms while she teased me.

"Ah my little kage, you want a story? But you'll fall asleep and its almost lunch time!" I nodded my head. That was true- I probably would take a nap- honestly in this life I found myself much more tired then my first. I blamed it on being a child with an adults memories; I was in danger of brooding and I couldn't stand to be a moody child, so instead I slept. And besides thinking was _exhausting._

Kira noted my little acknowledgment but simply chuckled and then asked rhetorically, "Well I suppose we have time for a story. Which one, I wonder. The sage?"

I shook my head, not caring for this particular myth,

"The daimyo and the begger?"

Again I emphatically shook my head, not interested in hearing what I assumed was a Japanese version of the prince and pauper, but couldn't be sure of considering I slept though the ending of most of the children stories that were told.

"Ahhh I know, how about _your_ story little kage?" At this I smiled and nodded my head staring up at Kira's bright blue eyes. Kira grinned at me and began the familiar story while she carried me across the yard, continuing to supervise the more rowdy children. "Ahh Little Kage, you should know this story by heart already. I've told you what I've heard, because I wasn't there, but here it is: from what we pieced together, your Kaa-san was so beautiful, like a princess. So tiny, but it suited her because she was quick. So quick that when three men, drunk on life, and liqueur, and fun from the festival, they couldn't catch her! Still they could tell how beautiful she was and they wanted her so they chased her anyway. She led them to an alleyway, right by where we go to get the fruit in the mornings, and when they went to grab her, she moved."

Here she paused to look at me again, staring wide eyed at her face. Kira was very dramatic, much younger then the other house mothers and it showed in retelling of the tale. A small part of me, the boring responsible adult part, was disgusted with these women for continually telling a child the story of her mothers death... reminding her how physically close she came to the crime scene, to the location of her mothers assault, but it was a tiny part that she could usually shove to the back of her head.

"When the men moved to grab her, they didn't realize how quick she could move." Kira's smile changed to something more awed, something almost reverent in thought of the memory, and a small part of me felt very smug that my mother was able to inspire that feeling in someone. I wished I had been able to do something to my stalker, but my mother, my _new_ mother had managed to make an impression on everyone around her.

I knew that this was all second hand accounts put togetheraspiecemeal and that no one was quite sure _what_ happened. But we knew enough for me to be a little conceited. "Little Kage, never forget, When someone is fast as lighting they are so very quick, but the only thing faster then the light is the shadow. And your Kaa-san was the shadow that night. The men attacked her, as quick as lightening but she struck back with the shadows...and she won."

I frowned. Normally this was the best part of the story, but instead I realized that Kira had used the same phrasing as Amieko.

"Your kaa-san was so very quick and she fought the men. But one of them swung something at her, a broken bottle, a knife, I don't think anyone quite sure what it was, but it cut her."

Here the reverence died out on her face instead allowing the teasing smile back on. "And still your kaa-san protected herself, but more importantly, you." I focused back on the story deciding not to question the shadow bit with Kira just yet. 'Maybe she'll double back and explain it later?' It was an idle thought, because no one had bothered explaining it in weeks past.

I continued listening to the story, but shifting my gaze from Kira's eyes to the playground and the other children who were still cheerfully running away from each other. "And then she moved, quicker even then she had before, rushing to the hospital because she wanted to save you. She was bleeding from the cut to her stomach, and she had some bruises from her attackers, but still she moved to save you. She told them at the hospital what had happened, as best she could- its why we know most of what we do- and some people that had seen the attack explained with more details." Kira tweaked my nose, causing me to wrinkle it but I gave no other reaction, instead staring at a boy who seemed to be struggling to kick a ball more then 2 feet.

"And little Kage that is why you're named Kageko. You are your mothers bright child, born from the shadows. Now let me put you down and start gathering everyone for lunch."

There must've been some signal that I had missed because all the house mothers were starting to corral the children towards the front door. Some of the older children were arriving trough the front gates, back from school for their lunch hour. Kira placed me on the ground and giving me a cheery wave good bye and began to do her own part in herding the orphans.

I sighed, partially annoyed that I had no time for a nap and partially irritated that I still didn't understand what using the shadows meant. And now I couldn't even ask Kira about it.

'Maybe its a difference of time period that's causing the misunderstanding?' I wondered. I wasn't sure when I had been reborn because somethings were so anachronistic that I wondered if I wasn't simply born in the past but a whole new world. Mentally shrugging away my worries for now, I made my way towards the people crowding around lunch.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again! To answer a question let in a review, she is not being raised by the Nara clan because they don't know she exists yet. They will! The next chapter takes place in Konoha and includes Naras, but theres a reason I wanted her to grow up slightly separate from the other Naras at first. It might not get explained for a bit, but it will eventually make sense. Besides, if you were raised with a bunch of people who could use shadows, would you still idolize your mother for being able to fight with them?

Anyway, here's chapter two! Please let me know if you have any questions and criticisms!

Edited 2/13/18

Chapter 2

Weeks later, I was no closer to understanding the meaning of fighting with shadows, but I figured I'd get it sooner or later. It seemed to bothersome to try and put more research into it when the laughable idea of controlling shadows was apparently accepted among _every adult in the house_.

As it often is with life, just when I'd chosen to leave the topic alone, the answer fell in my lap, almost literally.

Instead of landing on my lap, the book fell on the grass just a few feet from where I was napping under my second favorite tree. The 'thump 'woke me up. Annoyed, I blinked myself into wakefulness and looked towards the noise. The book was innocuous enough. A history book, written in Japanese-obviously. Already awake, I decided to give it my best effort and try to read.

While conversational, I wasn't yet completely literate (sue me- while being 28 in my past life, I had to learn a completely new language here and I was reveling in being lazy for once instead of the overachieving student I had once been). The book belonged to one of the children who had just tossed their school stuff on the ground near the tree. The book had slid out of their bag along with a pencil case and two notebooks. Well, with the treatment the book received, the students were clearly done studying, and no one would miss a single book. I sat up, still in the shade of the tree and began reading.

The book was written for first year students, only about 6 or 7 years olds, so the Japanese was still fairly simple, mostly katakana and hiragana. There wasn't anything more complex in the front of the book and very little towards the back. And while I could understand it, I was bemused. For one, I wasn't used to books that talked down to children anymore. I was used to college textbooks that assumed you understood everything and anything there was to know about the subject.

While I may have been misreading, the words were so simple, I think it was more culture shock then anything that got to me. The history here began so differently then any history lesson I had ever had in my first life. Clearly I might have to fall back on my theory -the one about being reborn in a different world might actually be on to something.

Not harry potter though which killed the whole my-mom-was-a-witch-who-could-use magic-that-looked-like-shadows-or-something-theory I had been working with.

It was so different, so interesting; I was enthralled with the text, unable to put it down, speeding through the pages like a girl possessed. Elemental nations and Daimyos and treatises and hidden villages.

And eventually my bemusement changed to horror. Because suddenly my mother fighting with shadows made sense. 'Because of course she can use shadows' I thought hysterically, 'she has chakra and thats a totally acceptable thing in this world.'

Chakra. Like on a television show I'd seen when my undergrad roommate was netflix bingeing instead of studying. Right. But the more I read, the more the history matched up with the fictional show. Although I had already accepted reincarnation as a totally plausible thing, which was a point in Buddha's favor and a strike against basically every other religion, I still found myself desperately praying to take me back and plop me in the Harry Potter universe.

War. Hidden villages. _Ninjas_. I put down the book; there wasn't enough detail in a first year book to truly satisfy my knowledge but their didn't need to be; it explained enough for a general overview begin to take shape in my head. I was in a city that was just barely inside of fire country.

While only briefly going over all the hidden villages, the focus -'the propaganda' my adult mind supplied- of the twelfth through sixteenth chapters was on the hidden village of the leaves, the only village in the land of fire.

And some of the prominent families were mentioned. Uchiha, Hyuga, Akimichi— _and its close allies Yamanaka and Nara_. I vaguely remembered them from the show. The girl-or was it a boy?- with spiky hair could use shadows to freeze people. Or something. I let out a frustrated huff.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd regret not joining Kayla in a tv binge, but it was literally turning into my biggest regret. Medical school and a perfect GPA meant nothing compared to insider knowledge on my new life.

I knew next to nothing about the show, just that things got pretty shitty when some emo kid ran away. I knew there were plots against citizens from Kayla's ranting about her favorite characters innocence. She'd forced me to sit down and explained in detail why Itachi was innocent and a good guy all along. She'd made me pick a favorite character and I'd chosen the coolest looking guy, only to find out he had his own sad backstory because apparently _nobody in this show was happy ever._ I also vaguely recalled that there was a demon kid who destroyed the whole town.

OR saved it from being destroyed?

Hmm I wasn't sure about that one but anyway: The whole world had gone to shit. There was a _giant war._ And worst of all, I had no idea _when_ I was. The history books didn't mention a giant fox or a demon kid killing people, but the books were old and outdated, used by child orphans. They could be a year out of date...or ten. Where was I in relation to the war I had seen? Regardless, for now, couldn't change anything.

In the book, the other wars were mentioned. Bloody, divisive conflicts that had changed the landscape, politically and geographically. And unfortunately the best way to stay alive seemed to be by...being strong enough to live? It didn't really tell me too much. Just that death and destruction struck until the righteous leaf village had stepped in.

The book had a section about ninja recruitment. A possibility, but unlikely, it explained. In much nicer terms it laid out the difficulty of entering ninja school: While the civilian cities and towns had been targeted last time; it was the reason there were so many primary school aged orphans around now. Civilians were an easy way to hurt the economy of the hidden villages and we (they?) were not strong enough to fight back. Ninja were like super hero's and super villains to civilians.

They existed and they were strong and if you wanted to be one? HAH!

Civilians who were not raised in a hidden village had little to no chance at becoming a ninja. Good luck even finding the village without an escort of ninja that you had to hire remotely. For civilians who lived in one of the hidden villages, you had a much better chance. These civilian families had to have done business with ninjas for years to be allowed to live in the villages and often had to travel for trade but still they weren't ninja either. They sacrificed everything, but still were second class citizens in the eyes of shinobi, not as cut out for the profession.

Their chances were dwarfed by those who came from families where shinobi was not a title but a way of life.

'And my mother fought with shadows.' The sudden thought calmed me; My mother had to have been part of a ninja family. While the caretakers hadn't realized she was a ninja Please—using chakra was rare, ninja even cares, but _come on._ A pretty woman just gets chased my 3 randoms without being suspicious, then manages to fight them all, gives you no details about her past, and nobody ever comes around trying to find out about her whereabouts? Only in this world would that be even semi-normal.

Especially when I now factored hidden villages into my world view. In fact, it almost definitely wasn't random… Holy shit was my mother assassinated? Or was it a random ninja fighting thing? My caretakers just thought my mom had been quick and strong but certainly not a ninja. After all, ninja weren't a dime a dozen...after all, why would a ninja be in a festival in a different city instead of their own village? And why would they be unable to save themselves from 3 ninja—sorry I meant three random drunks?

And as an orphan in a completely different city then the Hidden Village of the Leaves, I had no idea how to meet the Nara, or prove that I was one of them. If I was one of them. I kind of had pineapple hair going on already. Did other families use shadows too? I was going off of my weak already over 3 year old memories of a television show I had barely paid attention to.

Still, I had died once already- too weak to do anything but be surprised by death. Here though, in this second life, I was not weak. I had the advantage of my birth— Ninja gave birth to ninja; civilians had a much harder time competing with ninja breed genetics. I was strong enough to survive my birth, smart enough to now show off my knowledge. And already, bullheaded enough to know exactly what I wanted- I was going to live, get strong, survive a war, and become someone my okaa-san would be proud of. I was going to find a way to be a ninja.

With the knowledge provided by the books, the calm acceptance of my caretakers suddenly made sense. Not perfect sense, but I suppose they really did think my mother had been a princess. While not common, chakra usage was an accepted part of society. People could achieve the same feats as ninja without the training but that was less common. Nobles in particular were more likely to have _some_ training. 'Perhaps thats what they thought of my mother?

Strong enough to fight but not quite strong enough to live?' The thought annoyed me. I refused to think of my mother as weak. I grimaced, but decided all of this needed further study. 'But' I thought with a happy sigh, pushing the book towards the grass where it had landed and lying back on the grass, ' the best way for me to process all of this is to take a nap.'

~Line Break~

My 'plan' as stupid as it was, took a year and a half to bear any fruit. I relentlessly asked for stories from the caretakers, no longer content with just hearing about my mother; I wanted to know about the sage of the sixth paths, the daimyo and the beggar, the yondaime who had saved all of Fire country from a demon. And with the stories, previous gaps were filling in. I hadn't realized how many hints towards shinobi there had been before, unconsciously waiving them away because they didn't fit my perceived worldview.

Now I began to see where they fit in the tales I was told. I used the subtle mention of ninja to prompt stories and personal anecdotes from the women. Kira was happy to obliged, blushing when she mentioned 'meeting' with one before (my adult mind smirked realizing the implication, but my child face showed only innocent interest) but explained how rare it could be to see them in person. As protectors the Fire Country, they were too busy doing missions to interact with civilians.

Between what the caretakers thought about the ninja- and my god did they worship them from afar- and my own reading, I formed some small opinions. The caretakers were almost as bad about ninja as I was about my okaa-san and yet they still hadn't put two and two together because they _still_ thought my okaa-san was a civilian who happened to be fast. _Yea, okay._ I just asked of stories and tried to put it all together in my head.

Unfortunately my very unstructured and unlikely plan couldn't progress until a bit of chancy luck (more like a ton of luck and a bit of fate), but like I said that only took a year and a half. At 3 and a half, I wasn't old enough to be wandering around unsupervised, but don't tell my caretakers that. The housemothers didn't care what I did or where I went as long as I came back uninjured and on time for meals.

Silently they might have thought that I was looking for new places to nap, which wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the whole truth, as I used my time awake to visually look around our city for ninja. True to the word of all the stories, there were never any ninja around, or if there were, I had just missed them because they were only passing through. They had no time for civilian children.

On one such occasion of being out of the orphanage, I was sleeping in a tree branch a few feet off the ground. While it had been hard to get used to sleeping in trees, it was worth it for the sheer fact that no one looked for me here and I could go for _hours_ uninterrupted in my naps. It just took more effort to climb into the higher branches. But I was a sturdy kid and could handle a few falls. And then while I was sleeping the branch SHOOK.

I sat up sleepily. "ne?"

The man crouching on the branch turned to look at me surprised but not quick enough to tell the 3 people following him to stop. Two of them joined him on the branch shaking it further and bringing more further into wakefulness. I cocked my head at the man looking at him with disinterested eyes. Sure I had been waiting to meet a ninja and ask questions, but I hadn't expected them to literally pop up in front of me. In the back of my head, I was convinced I was still dreaming.

The man cocked his head to one side staring back at me and drawing his companions eyes to me. While he had shot curly brown hair kept out of his face by a blue band with the leaf symbol engraved on it, the girls the branch had blue-black hair that was pin straight (My heart twisted with jealously at the hair that I would've killed for my in old life) and they kept their blue bands around their waists.

"Hello there" The man -'boy?'- I absentmindedly wondered how old he could be. 'Certainly not out of his teenage years yet. Jeez did I really wanna be a teenage killer?'

(I went back and forth on my determination to be a ninja. It was a pretty big concern of mine, but I figured they were going to try and indoctrinate us impressionable children and if it mean surviving a giant war, I was willing to jump right into that brainwashing session. It was quite bothersome to imagine living in this new world with my old morals. )

Anyway, the kid gave me a cautious wave but a goofy smile that made his whole face brighten up. I simply stared back, then looked at the girls who stared back at me waiting for a reaction. Realizing the whole situation was becoming unbearably awkward and that I had somehow managed to fuck this up, without even saying a word, I decided to do what I do best in this life.

I rolled over on my branch and shut my eyes determined to go back to sleep. The boy burst out laughing; I ignored him and the quick Japanese that flew out of his mouth the girls. "A mini Nara-san! She could be Kiko's little sister!" his laugh was infectious and the girls chucked along with him. "Ah little Nara-san, sorry to bother you!"

I could feel the branch shake as he stood up to move along with the girls. I lazily tilted my head slightly to watch them off, blinking slowly at their retreating backs. The brunette turned back to see me looking and waved cheerfully. I gave a slight incline of my head, wondering how I would handle the next chance life gave me after messing this one up.

Of course I didn't realize that Kiko, the girl he had mentioned, was a Nara. And was in fact the brunette ninjas girlfriend at the time. How could I possibly know that the reaction I had had was so funny to him that he just _had_ to tell his girlfriend, cracking up in laughter. And by chance that the head of the clan would be just a few feet away sleeping in the shade with his son. A head who had over heard the story and was smart enough to out together his sisters death on a mission in the same city a few years ago and a mysterious Nara-like child.

Of course I didn't know any of this. I wouldn't know for many years.

But my plan had relied on a shit ton of luck and a little bit of fate.

Which was why when Shikaku and his team came to the village orphanage just a few weeks later, it was because I apparently _hadn't_ messed that meeting up. If I had changed anything, been more un-Nara-like, Kai might have never mentioned me to his girlfriend. And then my whole plan would have never worked. But I'm getting distracted. Because you see, at a little over three and a half years old, while napping in the shade of my favorite tree, the shade grew slightly stronger. I opened my eyes blearily to see a man with dark hair, a darker complexion then most of the other people I would see in town, a man with a beard and spiky hair. A man who kind of looked…just….like…me.

I tilted my head to look at him while he did the same to look down at me. He had companions with him, a large man, who almost looked comically round, and a man with such platinum blonde hair that it seemed fake even in this world of pink, purple and blue hair. I quickly dismissed them turning my gaze sleepily back to the spiky haired crouched down next to me, but still didn't say a word. I reciprocated the silence, instead deciding to map his face. There were thick scars on his face. I eyed them wondering again (for the millionth time really) if the safest way to survive this world was to be a ninja. I eyed his dark spiky hair, just like mine. I usually put mine up as well as it was easier to manage this way. He had the same wide dark eyes as me, but his were sharper and more thoughtful.

I realized he wasn't dark so much as tanned, but still everything about him seemed to be just slightly more intense then the skin tones I was used to in the orphanage. Tanned skin, dark hair, dark eyes, striking features, but if I wasn't so interested in his similar looks to me, I probably would've never noticed him. He stood out but, at the same time was completely unremarkable, scars and all. Forgettable. What a dichotomy.

"Hmm" At my introspective noise he smiled at me. I blinked. His whole face had changed in an instant. Rather then quiet intelligence there was now a wry sort of humor.

"I need to speak to the head caretaker. Can you show me the way?" His voice was a low lazy drawl. I blinked again. I wasn't really making myself out to be bright here, but I didn't really know what was going on.

In my study of the man, I had seen his ninja tools and the leaf band. I knew he was a shinobi and I didn't want to mess up my second chance, but honestly I was baffled. 'Could I really be lucky enough to have two groups of ninja just stumble on me sleeping?'

I nodded in agreement and slowly I stood and lead them towards where I knew Ameiko would be. I dragged my feet, not sure how the house mother was going to take this.

She had taken over when the previous head had left for some reason or another early this year, and yet even with all her new duties she still enjoyed working in the kitchen. I led the men to the room. They followed me quietly the blonde and round man grinning at each other stupidly. I idly wondered why, but realized I didn't care enough to ask. I had other questions to ask. I walked unhurriedly even though some of the children stared at the ninja.

Ameiko was surprised, to say the least. Her first reaction was to try and stutter a few words in introduction before dropping into a sharp bow. Quickly pulling me towards her, she whispered to me, still in shock, "Where did you find _shinobi?_ Do they need anything? Were you respectful? Oh lord" she suddenly looked distressed, "Please tell me you greeted them politely. I know you can be lazy but please please please tell me you listened to all the manners I have been trying to teach you."

I thought back to my lackluster reaction and internally winced. I hadn't shown any of the manners I had been taught. Still...

I honored the freakout with a shrug. While I didn't activate seek to be more then slightly disrespectful in this new life, I enjoyed the freedom of not caring. While in my past life I had always been respectful and attentive, there was something liberating in _not caring_ what people thought of you. I considered all my fucks to give already spent in my past life.

The shrug had earned a chuckle from the spiky man.

'Pineapple head' I thought, then distracted myself by wondering how to say pineapple in Japanese. It was hard getting used to childhood and my new scattered brain could be super distracting, making me seem very absentminded sometimes.

"Ma, ma'am, if you're the head caretaker, I'd like to speak to you, please." Ameiko blushed at the mans slow drawl, rising from her crouch next to me and gave another, slight bow.

"Hai! Please, follow me, I have a small office where we can speak!" I eyed the man as he followed her to her office. The other two ninja stayed in the kitchen with me. The other children in here snuck out, but peaked in the doorway curious.

The blonde guy crouched and smiled at me. It wasn't the stupid grin he'd flashed his friend before but instead a genuine smile that made me feel warm inside.

"Hi there! My name is Inochi-san, may I have yours?" I was surprised to be acknowledged, but he had been polite and I was interested in making a good impression...this time anyway. I had massively fucked up the woods meeting.

"Kageko" I spoke softly, as usual, although perhaps I was a little nervous to be speaking to two ninja. They were, after all, murderers. I would have wanted nothing to do with them in my old life. And yet the blonde man was so friendly. Could you fake a smile that warm?

"Ah bright child. What a pretty name. Must be because you're such a pretty girl!" He gave a soft chuckle. "You know…I have a daughter too. She's about your age actually. Do you have many friends your age?" I lazily noted that the man was very good with children. He smiled just so, kept his voice calm and friendly and didn't speak overly formal as to make me more comfortable.

"Ahhh It't not supposed to be pretty." I rubbed my hand against the back of my head. "Kageko is because I'm the brightness from my mother. And my mother liked shadows. Or something." I said it matter-of-factly. I had been hearing the same thing since I was able to understand Japanese as a bed time story. It was simply a fact by now.

….Or I had thought it was. The blonde mans face looked surprised then he quickly straightened back into his smile. "Ah, your mother and... shadow?" He waited for me to elaborate.

I blinked again unsure of what to say. While intuitively I should know that he couldn't possibly know my story, somehow growing up hearing it my whole life made me feel some kind of awkward explaining what I had begun to take as fact. After my initial questioning of it a year prior, I had come to accept it as a reality of my new life.

I felt odd explaining it out loud however. "You know…Ahh. They told me she fought with shadows." I explained slowly but my face was doubtful with a slight blush beginning to creep up on it. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe shinobi didn't have shadow powers or whatever with chakra. Nothing had been specifically said about the Nara clan in any book; they seemed secretive as any of the clans I supposed.

As an aside, the only clan that had their family just bragged about was the Uchiha, which made me think they must be good, otherwise, why lose the advantage of a surprise?

Or even worse, maybe the caretakers were right. My mom was just a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, I was basing my second life on a fucking television show, what did I know?

And yet, the blonde man seemed to just take in my explanation like it was nothing odd. He smiled at me again, then, still keeping his voice as low and calm as when he asked my name, he dropped a bomb. "Kageko-chan, how would you feel about going on a trip? You can have a new place to live… a new family. A brother even."

'Woah was he trying to ease me into getting adopted? This was…unexpectedly easy' Not that I was trying to complicate things. Ninja probably didn't have time to waste making trips to an orphanage, so you make one trip pick your kid and go I supposed. And I was willing to get adopted. Would probably make the later indoctrination easier to stomach if I had family ties.

"But you said you have a daughter. Do you have a son too?" I again tilted my head. It was a habit I would probably need to grow out of but for now, I thought it was damn adorable and made me think of an overgrown puppy.

The round man gave a hearty guffaw. "As smart as Shik, she is" His friendly baritone made the blonde man grin back at him.

"Ah Kageko-chan, you wouldn't live with me. Shikaku, the man speaking to the caretaker would be taking you in."He changed my name to honorifics without asking me, but considering I constantly forgot to use them, I wasn't going to complain.

I paused. 'Why?' Not able to come up with a definite answer I echoed my thoughts aloud.

"Because you're family." His lazy drawl startled me into turning towards him. Ameiko was beaming at me from behind him. His face again had a wry twist of a smile, even though his eyes look sad. I couldn't read his face too well however, not as well as I cold the housemothers or the other orphans- or even his own companions faces-it still gave me pause.

I wanted to say yes. This would get my foot in the door. I could join a village, find out about my mom, get strong and live this through this war. And maybe one day retire peacefully for eh rest of my days...But...in the mean time...I needed to know.

I needed to know. I was excited to meet someone who looked like me; someone who seemed to think like me too if our earlier silence was right. But, I had never minded growing up in the orphanage. I just dispaired at eventually dying in a war with no chance at fighting. And for that I needed to know.

"Do you…fight with shadows like okaa-san?" 'Are you family too?' Was my silent question.

His face changed from a wry grin to an almost savage smirk. He knelt down so we were at ye level and he seemed to get what I was asking.

"I was better then her growing up." My face must have been disbelieving because the smirk grew even more pronounced.

"Really. Your okaa-san was my nee-san. We practiced together growing up. You're definitely a Nara. You look just like her, a little bit tinier then I remember but... the same face. You were born to use the shadows just like her. And..." He hesitated for a second before continuing. "Even if you didnt want to learn anything about shadows..." He faltered but pushed on.

"You should be with us. Family sticks with family. It'd be troublesome otherwise"

 _Just like her._ That was all I needed to hear. All I'd really paid attention to. Although I had noticed that he was willing to not force me into a career of child labor and murder. I appreciated that.

"Okay." The other two ninja looked surprised.

"Kageko-chan you decided so quickly?" Ameiko was even more surprised then the two ninja. Maybe even a bit hurt. I internally winced but tried to explain my thoughts to her.

"Hai oba-chan. I want to be like my okaa-san. To be able to fight with shadows. It sounds...cool" The word didn't quite encompass what I thought of the magic of this world, but I had a limited vocabulary.

"Besides, I'm sure okaa-san would've wanted me to learn to be quick and strong like her." Okay so I still hadn't quite grown out my hero worship of my late mother but the women seemed bad ass. I couldn't help the feeling.

"And… Maybe I should meet my family? If okaa-san was alive…" I lost my train of thought. As an orphan living in a television universe I felt connected to my okaa-san for so many different reasons, not the least of which was because she literally _gave me life-_ Some reason might definitely include that she had literally died to let me live-and could honestly say that besides just training with them…

I wanted to be around the people my mother cared for. "Her precious people."

I hadn't meant to say that part aloud. Whoops. This was awkward. Like a lifetime movie quote level awkward.

The pineapple head just grinned again and then crouched lower, motioning for me to climb on his shoulders. I paused reflecting on the fact that leaving now meant taking _nothing._ But as an orphan, I had nothing to take, not really. Except I wasn't an orphan anymore… I was a Nara. I was going to have a last name for the first time in my new life. And how often would a chance like this come along?

'Apparently twice' my snarky inner monologue quipped.

And so, I climbed up his back and never looked back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tiny time skip here! Still trying to make things move quickly and still introduce characters without seeming forced. Enjoy!**

 **Edited: 2/13/18**

The academy was a pain. As a first year I was expected to do tons of reading and theoretical work. It was bothersome. Or rather troublesome. Apparently I was getting the family motto wrong but bothersome stuck with me rather then troublesome. Shika, my lovable older brother considered this mistake to be very troublesome indeed.

In my new life, I didn't enjoy doing work. Any work at all really. Apparently it wasn't just idle childhood dream to always take naps. I was super lazy in this new life. I continued to blame my brain but honestly I think I was perfectly in my right to sleep. With my toddler brain, I could think three or four times as fast as I could when I had died. In medical school. As an adult.

Thinking that fast was mentally exhausting. And the best way to recover? A nap of course. Unfortunately, my teachers didn't agree. Shika and I were constantly being woken, rather rudely I thought, and given detention for not doing our classwork.

But honestly the work was easy. I was able to do the katakana worksheets when I was still in the orphanage. I just didn't want anyone to know that I was capable. I'd seen them pile more work on other students for succeeding

No way was I gonna give up precious nap time for extra worksheets. Shika met my gaze and agreed silently; we both dropped our heads to the desk. Choji munched on his chips with one hand and worked on his worksheet with his other. I snickered when I noticed he was using his dominant hand to eat the chips because of course his eating dexterity was more important then writing with his dominant hand. Shika blinked at me glanced at where I was looking then smirked.

'This is why I love him' I thought happily 'He's smart enough to just put it together.'

Truly there hadn't been any issues when I came to Konoha with Shikaku. Shikamaru was too lazy to get jealous of or fight with a new sibling and I was too lazy to try and stir up trouble. The only rough patch in my immediate family was my use of 'bothersome' instead of 'troublesome' but mom thought it was hilarious. Yoshina was technically my adopted mother but to separate the two, I generally called her mom and reserved the term Okaa-san for my birth mom.

Kaa-san was scary sometimes but that could sometimes be a good thing. It meant no one bothered me because they were worried about Yoshina's wrath. And she also was an amazing cook and a dedicated mother. I could appreciate her and respect her while still running away when she tried to get me to work. Between her love and my Nara relatives being like male versions of me, I was happy to be in my new home. The only thing I missed form the orphanage sometimes was the constant activity. _I_ didn't want to move, but I found background noise relaxing. It was a minor complaint, all things said and done.

But I'm getting distracted: other then using bothersome instead of troublesome, my family had taken to me like a duck to water. Or was it the other way around? Either way we just _clicked._ My uncles, Inochi and Chouza were kind and, not one to rock the boat, I got along with their kids.

Inoichi hadn't lied; he did have a daughter my age, who was just as platinum blonde as he. While she didn't appreciate Shika or my being lazy during class, I was friendly enough outside of the academy that she didn't really try to do anything to change us. I was happy that she left us alone because she was a force to be reckoned with when she made up her mind.

Choji had been Shika's best friend before I came to the village. Now he was both of our friends, but still closer to Shika. I think it was a guy thing. And then there was Shika.

Dear Shika was my favorite person in this village. He was a month older then me and he was more intelligent then anyone I'd ever met, maybe dad included. Certainly smarter then anyone from my past life.

Sometimes, I could have a discussion with him in just looks that transcended any kind of words. And yet he understood my deep seated need to take naps and joined me. He liked lazing around even more then me and he still went out of his way to find me when he hadn't seen me in a while in case I got lonely. Yes, Shika was one of my best friend here. He was a genius that just wanted to eb a kid and I respected that. After all, wasn't I lazing about in this new life too?

At the moment Shika and I were fighting. Not angry fighting. More playful competition then anything else. I had been in the village for 4 years now and our first year at the ninja academy was coming to a close. _And I wanted the bottom spot._ I was aiming to be dead last.

And for some reason Shika was working twice as hard as normal to beat me. Dad had never been more proud of us. While mom was constantly on us to try harder, dad humble bragged to his friends that we got every problem wrong. He seemed to get that we had to know the right answer in the first place to get _every_ answer wrong. What was making Shika stand out was he lack of care for hiding the obvious. To not be noticeable, we had to be just off enough to seem almost right. It was an art. A Nara art.

An art that Shika didn't seem to care about as he just failed everything.

In the years I had been in the village, I had remembered some things from Kayla's favorite tv show but nothing concrete. Often, I tried to use mediation and yoga to bring memories to the surface. As the years passed, I remember less and less, so I tried to solidify what knowledge I did have.

What I did know was that only a few things really happened in childhood. I had mostly noticed the characters when they were older. I also now knew that I was in the age group that dealt with the most shit. Still it wasn't all bad -yet. Emo kid wasn't even moody yet.

Instead he was a model student. Blonde loud kid-maybe demon boy, maybe not- wasn't in our class. He was two years above us, having started the academy early. Pink haired girl was here but she didn't seem like a badass who could break the ground open with her first.

Instead she was painfully shy and nerdy. Still, I trusted the naruto-verse to be similar enough to not cause me any long term issues. After all I wasn't trying to change **everything**. I was just trying to change everything _in my favor._ A slightly different way of handling it that made all the difference in the world.

When the academy school day was finally over I stretched in relief. These desks were not made for sleeping, let me tell you. I bade goodbye to Choji, promised Shika I'd be home in time for dinner, and hastily gathered my things, leaving the stuffy classroom at last.

When I had first came to the village Dad had immediately brought me in on Shika's clan training. I needed to catch up. I'd found that there were different styles of the kage-no-mane, our family techniques and while we couldn't use them yet, we constantly sat practicing the seals over and over again until they were as familiar as breathing.

While Shika was probably going to fight similar to dad, moving to immobilize the enemy, dad had picked up on my hero worship of Okaa-san. He showed me pictures of her, gave me her old books, and most importantly, taught me to fight like her. It was simple manipulation, but I knew what I had signed up for.

Now that I was finally beginning to practice some of the family jutsu-barely because Shika and I were just children- I could understand why dad had always beat Okaa-san. Her style of fighting was quick.

Like almost all Nara's she had almost no chakra signal to sense. Our natural chakra was beneficial for sneaking and hiding as, like the shadows, we were hidden from everyone, even the best of sensors if we learned to suppress out chakra well enough. And she had been quick. Rather then moving to immobilize, she struck with shadows all at once; fast, and to do that, she had to physically move even faster.

 _However_ , if you were caught before you could start your technique, say your dad caught you in his shadow and stopped you from retaliating, it didn't matter how fast you were, how un-sensible, how good at wielding the shadows like knives. Because you were stuck.

Upon realizing the flaw, all I could do was practice. How could I avoid being caught? Well… I suppose the easiest and the hardest way was the same: _be faster_. I mean I could start over and focus more on dad's style. But I wanted to be like my Okaa-san. And I was stubborn. So I worked on speed.

In a very un-Nara like fashion, after school everyday I tried to run. I kept light weights on near 24/7, but I didn't feel them quite as much anymore, didn't notice them, until I was running. Moving from the streets outside the school towards the forests by the training grounds, I didn't slow. I weaved my way through the trees, finding myself ducking into shadows on near instinct now, always eager to keep myself near advantageous ground. Dad stressed how much my smaller frame would need to rely on my surroundings for shadow supply.

With the wind on my face and the dark forest around me, my chakra singing as I tried to cycle it into my muscles, there was no better feeling the world.

Dad approved; I knew because after I told him what I was doing, he gave me Okaa-sans old diary. Again classic, but appreciated ninja manipulation.

It was sparsely filled; clearly she'd been to lazy to put in detailed entries. Still it was a piece of my mother, and I treasured it. I loved it even more when I realized she outlined her early training schedule in it. The weights had been her idea. The shift from running in the woods freely to workouts with weights was difficult, but I stuck by the same plan that my okaa-san had gone through. I didn't follow all her training plans, not yet because I was too young. But the running I could get behind.

'I'm even earlier then her' I thought giddily 'Okaa-san wasn't using weights till 9 and I'm only 6!'(almost 7 but not quite yet) While the thought would've once disturbed me -come on even wanting to survive and all, child soldiers were just not cool-by now, I was accustomed enough to this world to simply shrug off the thought. 'As they say' ('said' I mentally corrected my internal monologue) 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do.'

I was full in with the indoctrination. Sign me up for the next will of fire speech, HOO RAH.

I got 3/4 through my normal run when something _different_ happened. Now, I find it important to note here that I am far from a creature of habit. While deviation from the norm could be bothersome, stale repetition was so much worse. I was a budding child genius, not so much as Shika, but no one really compared to him, and it was easy to get bored. Holding my attention could be hard. Which is why tedious patterns were easy to recognize and could put me to sleep in a second.

Anyway, Like I was saying. I was 3/4 the way through my normal run when something different happened. Someone ran smack into me.

'Oof!' I couldn't hold back the exhalation air.

"Ahhh!" Cried the mass that had ran into me.

I blinked at the boy. He was older then me and he rose from the ground almost instantly. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Didnt mean to hit you! I was just practicing and I didn't sense anyone over here!" He spoke quickly and gave a short sharp bow before smiling sheepishly. "Are you okay?"

I blinked. He looked super familiar. Unfortunately having lived in Konoha for a while now, it was getting hard to distinguish who I had actually met in person and who I was remembering from the television show of my past life.

"Mm fine" I mumbled standing up, then wincing as I felt the bruise forming on my left side. 'He was so fast, I didn't even have a chance to dodge.' The thought surprised me.

While only 6, I was faster then most of my academy classmates, not that anyone, instructors included knew because god can you imagine the extra work they'd give me if they knew I was capable of training? But I hadn't even had a chance to _see_ him, let alone dodge.

He noticed the wince and moved closer. "Are you sure? I was moving pretty fast!" Pause then curious look, "Actually, what are you doing here in the woods? You're right on the border of the Uchiha's land."

"Running" No point in dragging this conversation out; I still had no idea why this guy why familiar and that could be realllllly embarrassing if we'd already met and I was forgetting.

His grin lit up his face and he took in my appearance. I was slightly out of breath from my run and my weights were noticeable when you knew what to look for. Thankfully, nobody in class assumed a _Nara_ would be wearing weights so I was safe for now, but still, now that the boy was looking for them, he noticed them, the book bag on my back and the ragged look of my pants. I had been moving around the shadows of the woods: Of course that meant bushes and brambles and other things that caught on my clothes.

"Well If you ever need someone to run with, let me know! Most ninja don't bother to put in the long runs, but I plan on being the fastest ninja ever, even faster then the yondaime, so I need to put in the extra work." I wondered if he was distantly related to Uncle Inoichi— his smile was infectious.

I grinned back— "You can try, but thats gonna be me." The two of us grinned at each other for another second before he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "Aw sorry for not introducing myself. My oba-san would be horrified right now. I'm Shisui. Nice to meet you!"

"Nara Kageko, but call me Kage."

"Shadow huh? That's pretty ironic isn't it?" I grinned. I found my name to be quite fitting especially considering the orphanage had named me.

"Ne, ne it fits though."

He grinned back at me then suddenly I was that nervous kid shy where I wasn't sure if we were friends or not yet.

'Maybe I should run with him? Or would it be weird?' Noting the shadows were longer on the trees, I glanced at the sun. It was almost finished setting.

"I have to go! Mom and dad are expecting me for dinner!" I patted the remaining dirt off of my clothes and moved to leave, internally deciding to simply leave it up to fate, to his choice.

I was bad at being a kid sometimes and had no idea if we had done that thing where we just introduced ourselves and were lifelong friends. So I left on an open invitation.

Shrugging my bag higher on my shoulders, I gave a slight wave to the boy, "See you tomorrow?". And then I was off again. Running as fast as I could, cheeks burning red -was I blushing? The horror. But then my head cleared from the run and all I noticed was the forest and my footsteps and the shadows.

After dinner that night I meditated. In my old life I had enjoyed yoga. Specifically hot yoga. But that wasn't really an option here, so I just used the same stances to both increase my flexibility and to help relax my mind.

While meditating, I tried to focus on the memories of my old life. Shisui sounded familiar. Maybe he was from the show? I continued with my meditation. Yes he was from the show. He was an Uchiha dude. One of the people with the red eyes. And he died. He had a pretty important death too. Sparked a whole massacre that the crow guy did.

Crow dude was Kayla's favorite character so I knew his story pretty well. Shisui must be the best friend who tragically died. Kayla had cried at his death scene and made me sit and watch it with her. Still this was the first major event that I was going to live through. I had missed the demon fox after all.

But I was 6. But Shisui didn't seem much older. Maybe 12? Maybe even younger? And I didn't want to imagine him dying. Because he had been so _nice_ and so _friendly_.

A cruel voice in the back of my head dug into my insecurities 'and he was fast and strong for a ninja, but he still died. What chance do you have?' I ignored the voice.

It was too negative to dwell on. And I tried to remember my promise to myself that I would change this world for the better. I was going to change it to the better for me... But...

Maybe Shisu was the start ( _I was 6)_ and maybe if I could save him, which would be very bothersome, maybe the crow guy wouldn't kill everyone. And maybe then we'd have more ninja. And then maybe the war would be easier to fight? ( _I was six fucking years old; there was no chance in hell—)_

I slept uneasy that night. There were few things that could beat back insecurities. The worse thing about this new brain of mine was that by being much quicker, smarter, faster, there were few scenarios it couldn't imagine. Nightmares were awful. So when stressed I didn't sleep fearful of my own mind. It was quite bothersome. I lay awake all night, lying in bed while I kept thinking over my mini existential crisis.

I was having my first midlife crisis at 6. This was tragic. I was going to have grey hairs by 10.

The next day school was just as boring as always. I continued to compete with Shika for worst student in the rankings. In Taijutsu class, I lost spectacularly and smirked at Shika as I picked myself up off the ground. Choji snorted in amusement at our antics. Sensei looked on in disapproval. He gave the whole class a lecture on self improvement and hard work while staring at me and Shika. I started back, innocently nodding along. Shika, damn him, was falling asleep while standing, which was impressive and not yet something I could match. After the lecture, sensei released us and while the boys jetted off, Shika being dragged by Choji, the girls gathered together and began to move as one to Kunichi class.

While slightly sexist in nature, I appreciated the class. Really, I thought boys and girls should take it. In a world where a jutsu existed for changing gender, there was no reason for separation of the sexes. Besides, the class was super interesting. It reminded me of my former medical school classes in some ways. The focus on herbalism was enthralling and the first aid would be invaluable in the field. The flower arrangement was new to me and, while not super interesting, as a kunoichi and a Nara there was a chance I would have to go on infiltration missions in the future. I paid decently close attention.

Today's lesson was on tea ceremony. Something that might also be important for infiltration, but sensei said we'd be reviewing this for the next few weeks so I took some time to slack.

Waking up two hours later to the sound of my classmates leaving, feeling refreshed, I gathered my things. Sensei shot me a dark look for sleeping through her lecture, but I ignored her and slumped my way out of the classroom. Feeling her stare at me, I moved even slower. Honestly this was the one aspect where I disagreed with my Okaa-sans journal. She had let everyone know how amazing she was. She enjoyed showing off and had been something of a class clown, as well as a teachers pet. She had a crush on some kid in her class and was always trying to get his attention.

Meanwhile, I liked to be underestimated. People thought I was stupid, unmotivated, slow student. They lumped me and Shika together as failures of the Nara, proof that laziness would eventually overcome superior intellect and genetics. I was fine with them thinking that. I was a Medical student, 28 year old reincarnated Nara. I couldn't be stupid if I tried.

And while everyone thought I was one egg short of a dozen, I'd never been happier. I had no expectations except my own. I was smart, not quite on par with Shika, although I must keep stressing, no one really was.

I was motivated; l wore training weights everyday and kept up a facade to _everyone without_ anyone ever realizing what I was doing.

I was anything but slow but everyone assumed I was lazy. They weren't wrong- but the two weren't mutually exclusive. So the moment I needed to be fast, no one would ever expect it. I was hoping when I finally needed it, they wouldn't even spot me.

It was during my snail walk out of the academy that I saw Shisui. He was the complete opposite of my current philosophy. I didn't let anyone know that I ran. He was practically vibrating with energy while standing still. He was looking around and when he caught sight of me he jumped up and waved his hand at me.

I blinked in surprise. Was he waiting for me? But he must be a genin. Why was he waiting for an academy student? 'Oh my god, I managed to make a friend afterall.'

"Kaaaaageeee-chaaaannn!" His excitement was almost palpable. A pleased grin forced its way on my face as he made his over to me and grabbed my arm dragging my forward.

"Are you ready now? Your stupid class went on forever and I was so excited to finally have someone to run with! I'll even slow down so you can keep up." I couldn't drop the smile as he teased me.

A voice in the back of my head warned me— 'he's gonna die. You're playing with borrowed time right now' I ignored it.

I decided right then and there Shisui was my first friend- the first one I'd made on my own, not like Choji and Ino who I'd met through family. He was _my_ first friend in Konoha. Maybe one of my future precious people, my Okaa-san was always commenting about precious people in her diary.

But even if he wasn't someone special to me, he was a fellow shinobi of konoha. ( _And my very first friend in the village that_ _I made_ ** _all on my own)_**

And he was going to live. I was going to make sure of it.

"Ah Shisui-san, I'm ready when you are." His grin was infectious and my smile grew larger.


	4. Chapter 4

Like I said in the intro to the last chapter, Im gonna be uploading everything I ahem for now as I go through it, then slow to about once a week. Another slight time skip here because wouldn't it be so boring to follow a 6 year old around? or a 3 year old from chapter one? Nah, Id rather have long chapters with details, then short time skips. Anyway, let me know any criticisms, questions or concerns you may have!

And so began an epic friendship. While the academy bored me, Shisui was interesting. He wanted to run to be quick; however he already was quick. Faster then most chunin or jonin, he explained to me. But still he had a goal and he wouldn't stop. I wasn't completely shocked when he told me he was already a chunin. At 12. (what a crazy world Iive in).

For the first few weeks I thought the friendship was odd. Why was a 12 year old chunin hanging out with a just turned 7 academy student? I knew I was intelligent enough to keep up a conversation, but I usually didn't bother, finding it troublesome.

However after a little while of hanging out with Shisui, I began to realize why he might seek friendship from a student. For one, his running really was mocked. I hadn't noticed any repercussions because I kept my workouts a secret, but most ninja didn't bother with long distance running. They built endurance from repeated spars and endurance exercises. The idea of _just running_ seemed like a waste of training time. And it seemed to be even worse that Shisui was the one doing it. It was subtle but no less subtle then racism and xenophobia had been in my past life. I could see the way the villagers, citizen and ninja alike, seemed to look down ever so slightly on Shisui. I never asked him and I think he was grateful for it, but I could tell he noticed me noticing it. What was worse was he let their hate _motivate him_. The villagers were snotty and rude to a 12 year old fucking kid. And he was motivated to do better— for the sake of his clan. (Sometimes this new world made me want to just give up. How could I beat the system of indoctrination that they were using? It was better then North Korea ever managed)

Once I realized what Shisui was putting up with and that he really was just looking for a friend to run with, I decided to drop pretenses with him. I had, after all, decided I was going to keep him alive. I figured that made him important enough to have a real conversation with. ( I didn't bother with many conversations outside of my family but most Nara's were like that)

"Eh Shisui, why do you think chakra is easily expellable outside the hands and feet versus a point like the neck or elbow?" A question I had been mulling over for days; Hyuga were the only exception I knew of; of course anyone could do it but it was markably easier to expel chakra out of the hands and feet then anywhere else.

Shisui looked surprised, then thoughtful. We continued our looping run through the forest while he thought aloud. It was surprisingly relaxing to argue his points down or help him build them up. When we finished out run that day, I had a big smile on my face and cheerily waved goodbye to him. Of course he had his customary infectious smile on his face as well. (Old me would sometimes say very mean things about how disgustingly cheery Shisui could be after running 10 miles but usually refrained and kept it minimal mumbles).

It wasn't long after the runs progressed to conversations that Shisui decided to teach me how to throw kunai and shuiken. I was slightly below average. It wasn't my forte and I didn't plan on including it in my skill set. Shisui was horrified at my casual ignorance of the basics and forced me to practice with him. He was markedly above average and helped me improve, as well including how to perform tricks with ninja wire, one of his clans specialities. The ninja wire intrigued me. The combination of kunai, ninja wire, and my families shadow technique could prove useful.

It was around this time that I introduced Shisui to my family. As a child prodigy, Shisui was probably already known to my dad, but Shisui didn't realize this. I had casually dropped the invitation to Shisui at the end of one of our runs. We had been running together for a few months now and my dad had waited long enough (What an awesome dad he was—never nosey, It was too much work to bother asking, so usually he would just let me and Shika be.) I figured I could reward him for his patience by bringing over Shisui without him even asking. Instead, Shisui freaked out. I was surprised. Normally he was unflappable, always smiling and bubbly. Still I dragged him along with me. I tried to figure out what I was missing; Shisui was friendly enough, but had he managed to piss off my dad? Not likely- dad was pretty hard to get angry. Maybe he had to go home? No, he only had to go home right away when he was having dinner with his aunt and uncle; they were the clans head. 'Hm maybe thats the line of thinking to go down. Maybe Shisui isn't supposed to go to other clan heads home because he was related to the Uchiha leaders?' I internally shook my head and listened to Shisui's blubbering.

"Ah, Kage-chan they don't know I'm coming right? It would be so rude to intrude. At last let me stop to get a gift. They wont be mad will they?" I tuned him out again; he was talking a mile a minute anyway.

'Maybe he's nervous because Uchiha dont…get invited to other clans?' Something told me this was the right answer. It made sense with the way the villagers treated all the Uchihas I had seen. Prodigy or not, Shisui was dealing with discrimination on a level I couldn't really comprehend. (It was insidious; I wouldn't stand for this for my friend) Still this was the best way to change it. Besides, I could tell Shika was getting curious where I had been- I was missing more and more shogi games, which was annoying him. He also deserved to have an explanation for my behavior.

Dragging Shisui past the languid guards at the front gate of the Nara compound, I led him straight to my home. Mom and Dad were surprised. While dad took it in strode, Mom excitedly locked on to the fact that I had made a friend. I shrugged when Shisui looked at me bewildered for how to respond to my moms attention. He'd figure it out. I walked over to Shika and motioned for him to go get the shogi board. He muttered about how troublesome I was but obliged anyway.

Dinner that night was a nice affair. Slightly louder then usual with both Shisui and mom speaking when normally it was just mom, but still nice. Shika liked him too I think, even though Shisui wasn't very good at shogi; He didn't have the temperament to sit still and plot moves ahead. Dad was the most surprised I think, but he too moved on and accepted it. I think he was just shocked that I was able to stand someone as loud and bubbly as Shisui, but I think he sometimes forgot that I was raised in an orphanage with dozens of other children. Sometimes I missed the noise. And besides; Shisui appreciated our runs and didn't mind giving me tips for training. He also appreciated the fact that sometimes I just didn't want to train. He gave me my lazy days and didn't push too hard even on my non-lazy days. It was a pretty good match of a friendship.

Dinner including Shisui became a pretty regular thing after that.

~Line break~

I was starting to wonder if I had misremembered emo kid being quite so emo. He was just a focused quiet kid for now. While I had no issues with Shisui's cousin, I found it kind of annoying that I was misremembering stuff. Especially considering that emo kid got emo when Shisui died. (Pause. Maybe he got emo _when_ Shisui died, in which case I no longer wanted him to become the broody kid from my memories) Still I was in my third year at the academy and I was pretty sure that by now something should've happened. Still, I expected something to start to look kind of familiar.

Now that we were in our third years, Chakra was starting to be introduced. I was not able to perfectly control it (yet) but I was working on it. I wanted to be able to limit waste and had been introduced to the leaf exercise by Shisui over a year ago. (This was good because it meant I could sleep through the lesson now) Shika, who I had shown when I learned from Shisui had the same idea and decided to skip the lecture with Choji, dog boy, and demon kid. (I knew they had names, but in the sanctity of my mind I could call them whatever I wanted) I jealously glanced out the window. Shika had the right idea. It was the perfect kind of day for lazing about in the sun and doing nothing. Still a nap was a nap.

After class the teacher found my brother and his group and held them back to lecture them about leaves. I tried to slip away finding it quite boring but he snatched my collar and included me in the lecture. I slumped inwards, 'how bothersome.' He kept going on and on about responsibility and heritage. I yawned in sync with Shika, setting sensei off. We all escaped out the window (I thought we could've used the door as the day was over but the blonde demon had grabbed me and dragged me along)

Once outside and away from our angry sensei, I studied my brothers group. They were all underachievers like him, however his was from not applying himself. I had an inkling that the others were missing more then just motivation to do better in school. I Hmmed. Shika groaned knowing I was up to something.

"I don't plan on being as boring as Sensei, but you guys really did miss a pretty important lesson." I lectured as if I had been awake and engaged in the lecture this morning, (I was a filthy hypocrite) "And you should probably make it up." Shika sighed mournfully knowing his plan to cloud watch was going down the drain. Choji chuckled, amiable enough to go along with whatever the group decided to do. Kiba stuck out his tongue at me and Naruto decided to begin lecturing me on his goal of becoming Hokage. I groaned "How bothersome. Aright all of you sit in a circle, let's go"

Kiba and Naruto looked at me aghast that I hadn't already given up like Shika would've (like a normal Nara would've really) and when Shika grabbed their shoulders and shoved them towards the ground they dropped obliging. I picked up a few leaves off the ground next to me. "Right so chakra is important. Not wasting it is probably important too." (I mean I thought so anyway but I didn't know how important chakra preservation was to them, so I kept it general) "Cause were a leaf village, we use leaves for this village. I heard mist village uses drops of water and sand uses grains of sand, but what do I know." Shika leaned back looking unimpressed; of course he knew that I _did_ know but the other boys didn't. I shrugged hopelessly at him; I needed to get the other twos attention. I knew dog boy survived to the war, same with Demon kid. And there was no way I was gonna let Choji come to harms way.

"Take this leaf and hold it to your forehead using only chakra. The best way to gain control of your chakra is to gain focus. Focus on every bit of the leaf you can feel. There are little hairs on the leafs- see if you can feel them when you focus. The more you can _feel_ about the leaf the better off your control is gonna end up." I handed out the leaves to the boys. Shika sighed but put the leaf to his forehead and held it there all while giving me a sardonic stare. 'are we done now?' His eyes asked me sarcastically. I looked pointedly at Choji who was struggling so hard that his whole face was scrunched up, unaware that the leaf was already on the ground. Dog boy kept getting attacked by his dog, who didn't seem to like the leaf ( which was super funny and adorable at the same time) and demon boy kept blowing the leaf off of his forehead into the center of the group.

I frowned. As children, we should have very little chakra stores and trouble moving that little amount around. However, demon boy wasn't showing the nonstick issue. He almost seemed like he had too much. "Hmm. Naruto I want you to hold this whole stack to your head"

"Huh? I move on to the next step already? Im so awesome! I'm the much closer to Hokage! dattebayo!" I took back every comparison I had mentally made to Shisui and Naruto. I hoped that if Shisui ever realized what I had thought he would forgive me. Putting them in the same category was just wrong. The level of hyper annoying this kid was showing made me literally cringe back.

"Right… Well just try with whole stack." He nodded and sat back with an intently focused face at odds with his bright orange regalia. I looked dog boy who had finally gotten his pup to sit quietly. His leaf kept fluttering around and he could only hold it stead for a second or two before it fell. Choji was listening to Shika's quiet instructions, so I didn't worry about him. Shika could handle it.

Shika was good at ninja stuff. Whoever Shisui and I ended our runs at the Nara compounds to practice throwing and some light sparring, Shika would join us. He was intrigued with my idea about using ninja wire and shadow techniques to control a shuriken or kunai from mid air. He was really good at it too. None of our clan focused on throwing so it was something that was wholly our own as well. Even better, as a future clan head, Shika had to bring something new to the clan and this was something he could work on and perfect over the years. With his practice of throwing knives and sparring with me and Shisui, he was persuaded to also work on chakra with us. Shisui was good at explaining things. Now a jonin, he now had pretty good understanding of his chakra and his techniques. He explained them all as best he could to us. In his down to earth informal manner, Shika and I found ourselves racing ahead of our class on chakra control. We could both do the leaf control exercise and we both were working on the senbon exercise, which involved holding the point of a senbon to whichever chakra point you were working on. I had stopped bothering with my forehead, and instead focused on my hands and fingers. Shika concurred and worked on it as well.

Drawn from my thoughts by Naruto's exclamation of surprise, I focused on the group once again. "YATTA I DID IT" Even as he spoke all the leaves fluttered to the ground. Still I noted that I had been correct; He had _too_ much energy. This was something else. 'Maybe calling him demon boy wasn't too far off the mark.'

"Ah right. So if you can hold the whole stack there for a minute, the next thing to do is to let them all of one at a time until only one is left." His jaw dropped at me.

"That'll take forever! I don't have time for that, dattebayo! I need to work on becoming hokage!" I blinked, taking a second to understand what he just said (The kid ran words together like they were colors) then frowned at him.

Tilting my head to one side, I asked, " Don't you know all Hokages can do this in their sleep?" Kiba straightened up, alongside Naruto. (Someone clearly has a secret dream) and they both began to redouble their efforts. I motioned towards Kiba. "You're the opposite Kiba. You're gonna try and add leaves one at a time until you get to 5 leaves held there." There, that'll increase Naruto's control and also increase Kiba's reserves. And bonus, if the way the two were glaring at each other was any indication, then they were both going to be motivating each other as well.

"Ne I need to go now, but keep up the practice, hm? It'd be bothersome otherwise…" As a Nara, I would probably be paired with another clan member on a genuine team and I wanted my team to have a chance at surviving. It didn't hurt to give them the tools to get better. Besides, they were Shika's friends and I didn't have any issues with them. Still, I really did need to leave. I was surprised that Shisui hadn't shown up and snatched me already.

'Maybe he saw that I was busy with these kids and didn't want to interrupt?' I wondered giving a slight wave goodbye to Shika and indicated my backpack for him to bring home. He gave a slight upwards tilt of his head to acknowledge me but continued to work with Choji. The other two didn't even notice I was leaving.

I made my way in the woods towards the Uchiha bordered forest area. Where could Shisui be? I knew that he was stressed out lately. In the past few months he had asked me to show him how to move without quite so much energy. He wanted to be able to sit quietly for hours at a time (I obliged by showing him my brother's favorite activity of cloud watching and introducing him to yoga which was funny at first but not so much when he got it down perfectly after cheating with his sharingan). Honestly, if I hadn't already figured out that he was in Anbu, I would've assumed he had another entrance exam. 'Maybe Anbu capitan?' I wondered, not quite sure how the promotions within Anbu worked. Not that I thought he should be in Anbu anyway, but Shisui was no longer a 12 year old chunin. No, he was now a newly turned 15. He had already been a jonin for a year. He was being followed closely by his younger cousin, a 13 year old Itachi who I guessed was also already in Anbu.

Lost in my speculations, I meandered further through the woods still looking around for Shisui. It was by chance that I stumbled upon them without being caught. I recognized this scene at least ('finally recognizing _something_ in this world') because Itachi had been Kayla's favorite character and she had rewatched this episode so many times, that I could quote in English the words I was over hearing. Some dude with bandages was confronting Shisui. Shisui was a few seconds away from losing his eye. _One of my closest friends was about to die._

They were ringed by people, all in blank Anbu masks. I was shocked no one had noticed me. But they would. How could they not notice me when I was about to save my friend. (For a second I thought about doing nothing. After all I wanted to live. But this was _Shisui_ and I couldn't —wouldnt—-leave him to die.)

My brain kicked into overdrive. I needed to save Shisui without getting noticed. I wasn't strong enough to fight one anbu let alone dozens (Shisui had kicked my ass enough times for me to be sure about that). The only way I was getting Shisui out alive was by being clever. On the bright side I had at least one advantage going for me here. I knew what was going to happen. This scene at least was clear. As Shisui had grown older, I recognized him more and more from the television show I had glimpsed in my past life. This was absolutely the moment he was going to lose an eye and then later die if i didnt— Wait what if I….

I lost myself in my own thoughts. I had some advantages besides just foreknowledge. I had no backpack with me today. I had left it with Shika. I also quickly stripped myself of my weights and tucked them inside a tree next to me, making sure to make no noise and internally trying my best to emulate a shadow. My opportunity was coming up, I had to watch closely.

There he was reaching for Shisui. With all the practice I had been putting in with Shika, I knew I could do this. I would be exhausted later, but my friend would be alive and it would be worth it. I stretched my shadow as long and narrow as I could. It was already late, the shadows long, My shadow went unnoticed. And then I felt it connect. The second I did I jumped back and to the side. Shisui mimicked me. No one noticed. Instead they quickly moved towards him. I released him, but it was a second to late; someone slashed against his face; 'shit did he lose his eye anyway?'

Clutching his face with one hand, Shisui dodged the onslaught of attacks and then he ran towards the forest. Moving to get way from them. He was slowed though. 'From his vision? From fear? Exhaustion?' I had no idea, but I moved as quickly as I could to intercept him. He was a little way ahead of them, but they would catch up in a second. I grabbed him around his middle.

He turn towards me, his face a vicious snarl, no sign of his normal smile. Blood ran freely from a scratch down his left side of his face, but I was happy to see the eye was still intact, instead the eyelid had dealt with the brunt of the attack. I blinked, hoping he wouldn't kill me by mistake. He was holding a kunai, covered in blood and I had to fight to hold back panicked flashbacks to a knife similarity covered in blood. I didn't let go though. Instead I held on and I _ran_ like I never had before. I was used to running in these forests with weights and a back pack heavy with thick books. Shisui was slight enough for a 15 year old boy. I weaved my way effortlessly though the trees, sticking to shadows, maintaining swift silence and aimed for the hospital. Shisui said nothing. I like to think he was too surprised by my _grabbing and then carrying him_ to say anything, but I think he was actually going into shock. The strike on his face was still bleeding freely and I wondered if it had been poisoned. It would explain his sluggish movements.

People were chasing, but they were veering off in the wrong direction. Hmm I suppose they would've expected Shisui to go back to the Uchiha compound (thats what he had done in the show) but no, I was taking him to the hospital. He would survive, I was making sure.

I didn't slow until I was pushing the doors open to the hospital. The nurses at the desk were unsurprised to see a late night ninja visitor, but being held by such a tiny girl threw them off a little bit. I quietly and succinctly explained what I had seen— minus Anbu masks and bandage guys (which I guess means I actually told them very little) then I watched them hurry him off to a room, hands already glowing green with medical ninjutsu. I blinked and turned making my way home slowly. Dad was waiting on the porch, as it was full dark outside by now. I think he was going to handle the lecture instead of mom, but when he saw me he stared (the same way the guards at the gate had started, then straightened up— if the kid of the clan head was coming in beat up, there might be trouble tonight)

"Sorry I'm late dad. But I've got something to tell you." Master of understatement, thy name is Kageko.

Dad studied me for a second taking in the blood on my shirt as well as the slight shakiness of my walk. My hands were definitely shaky from chakra exhaustion. While I practiced with the shadow capture, it was _hard_. I just didn't have large chakra reserves yet. Even the little bit I had done tonight had been beyond me.

'But Shisui is alive. Shisui is going to live' The thought made me giggle, slightly hysterically causing dad to shoot me a concerned frown, before motioning to the living room. I sat next to him on the couch and he pulled me into his lap. I didn't bother to resist. Right now I wanted comfort. If there was one thing that Shikaku had managed to teach me since coming to Konoha, it was that family _always_ came first. It was heartening to know that he cared as much for me as he did Shika.

I sighed leaning into his chest and told him everything; Anbu, bandage man, using the shadow capture, causing Shisui to get cut. Getting him to the hospital. The story actually wasn't very long when I told it. It had seemed like forever in the moment but it was only a few seconds that stuck out. The rest was simply running. Running to get in position, running to grab Shisui, running to the hospital. Running, running, running.

Dad stayed quiet the whole time and let me talk. I didn't realize I had started to cry until dad hugged me tighter. Mom moved into the room to pull me into a hug next. I hadn't even realized when she entered the room. Dad said something quietly to mom that I didn't hear, my head tucked into her chest, but then he said loud enough for me to hear, "Don't worry Kage-chan. Im going to take care of Shisui and who ever thought they could hurt him." I nodded in moms chest. That was right. Dad liked Shisui too, once he'd been introduced. (even though Shisui was horrible at shogi, my whole family enjoyed when he joined us for dinner)

Mom brought me upstairs, helped me wash off all the blood, change into night clothes and then tucked me into bed. It was a fitful sleep that I got. Only my exhaustion pulled me into a dreamless sleep. Otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have slept at all, scared of the potential nightmares.


	5. Chapter 5

**Pacing picks up again this chapter, as I'm trying to get the little bits of cannon out of the way so that we can go full AU in a bit. Let me know what you think!**

 **~line break~**

The next morning, I was up with the sun. Shika joined me in the kitchen. I was comforted by his presence. Getting him out of bed could normally be considered an A rank misison, so for him to get up on his own just to keep me company was heartwarming, even if he mumbled "troublesome" when I pulled him into a hug.

As it was the weekend, there was no school today and I had no interest in training or returning to sleep. As it was, the only thing I wanted to do was visit Shisui. Mom was making me to wait for dad to get back, but when he returned late that evening, the sun was already falling. He promised me that I'd be able to visit tomorrow, for which mom and Shika were grateful. I had spent the whole day pacing and be irritable and they had tried their best to distract me but I wasn't hungry and I wasn't interested in reading, or playing shogi or in doing anything.

Deciding that dads promise was enough, I bade my parents good night, following SHika up the stairs. Mom and dad didn't acknowledge our departure, instead their heads were close together and they were whispering urgently. It made me nervous in a way I wasn't used to in this new world, my stomach twisting in knots. I took an extra long shower to relax and after rubbed lavender oil extract into my hair (My kunoichi class said that lavender would help me relax after all). It must have done its job because I only tossed and turned for a few minutes before falling asleep.

The next day when I woke up terrified (I was in an alleyway and I was begin attacked only this time I was surrounded by a feeling, an aura of menace and the face morphed from the stalkers face into a more familiar one and instead of his bright smile, there was a savage animal like look on his face and I could feel the stabs that had killed me and my every swipe of the knife literally tearing me apart…) I took deep gulping breaths, finally able to move from my sleep induced paralysis. I hadn't even been able to scream out; instead I'd woken with the sound still stuck in my throat.

I didn't tell mom or Shika, (I might've told dad if he'd pried, but he was already gone for the day) because I didn't want them to stop me from seeing Shisui. I knew (at least I hoped) that I wouldn't actually be scared of Shisui when I saw him. But the memory of him turning to attack me had been terrifying. I'd never felt such an aura, a killing intent before.

Shisui had been running for his life. Logically I knew he hadn't meant to scare me. That it was very weak of me to care. But the killing intent combined with the fact that he had been holding a kunai and the sharp knife had glinted with blood (just like when I died) had triggered something in me.

And still, I didn't tell mom or Shika. Instead I spent the whole day curled up into ball by Shika's side. Instead I laid there and thought about chakra and strings and leaves and demon boys and pink-haired-strongmen. I tried to distract myself with memories from my past life and a fractured timeline that was hopefully already moot with Shisui's survival. When dad finally returned home, he gathered me and Shika (because, yes Shika did want to see Shisui, but more importantly, there was no way he was going to leave me alone after my behavior today) and brought us to the hospital. Every step closer made me more anxious, so Shika walked alongside me holding my hand without comment. Dad didn't bother going to the desk or signing us in; he was the jonin commander, I figured he'd been in and out of here all day trying to get a story from Shisui. No, I couldn't see dad bothering with the trouble of signing in his kids when he didn't bother with himself.

The quiet walk from the hospital lobby to the third floor room Shisui was in seemed to take ten times longer then the walk from our clan compound to the hospital. I knew it couldn't be true but my perception of time was off. (Was I always going to be scared to see Shisui now?Even when I was home and he was sitting across the dinner table telling a funny mission story?). I wondered if he was mad at me. After all, if I hadn't grabbed him he would've never been cut. I had released him from the shadow possession too late.

(A voice in the back of my head snidely told me he would already be dead if I had shadow possessed him, but I just as snidely snapped back that Shisui had no way of know that.)

Dad pushed the door open and let us into the room. Inside were two unoccupied beds, but the third, the one closest to the open window held Shisui. Dad walked forward and plopped in a chair. Shika and I crept forward eyes wide. Shisui was asleep, with white bandages covering half his face. ('His eye might not have made it in the end' I thought widely) But still I crept forward. The rising moon peaked through the open window and brightened up his face enough that I could see. The his jaw was clenched; his whole body was tense. I looked at dad for an explanation.

"There was some kind of paralytic on the weapon that cut him. A very strong one that without treatment shuts down all the muscle groups in the body including the lungs and heart."

(Mentally I began combining my former medical knowledge with my newfound kunoichi herbalism knowledge to try and eliminate potential poisons and possible antidotes. It was a good distraction to run through in the back of my head even if I wasn't yet skilled enough to narrow down the list)

Dad continued,"He hasn't woken up yet, but thats probably a good thing. If you hadn't brough him straight here, his chances of survival would have dropped signifigantly. He likely would've died, seeing as his lungs were already failing." Shika gasped and stayed frozen, standing right next to Shisui's bedside, gripping Shika's hand extra tight.

('At nine fucking years old, I saved Shisui. I changed something. Shisui is gonna live..' it was an encouraging thought, even with as broken as I felt inside. I was no longer scared of seeing Shisui, instead, all my fear changing into panic for my friends health.)

"The antidote they have him on is very rough on the body; makes the nerves extra sensitive. He'd be more aware of his pain if he were awake, if he can feel anything without the amount of morphine in his drip right now. Still, the doctors say he'll be waking soon." Leave it to dad to not try and water down anything.

We were his children through and through however, and so Shika hesitated only for a moment before dropping my hand pulling himself up to sit at the foot of the bed. I hesitated even longer, then pulled myself up next to him, sitting in-between Shika and Shisui's limp hand, which I grabbed still needing some kind of comfort. Dad stayed quiet, allowing us to watch over our friend. (I wish I had thought to bring flowers. All these kunoichi classes, and the flower arrangement lesson could have been used for a purpose. 'Tomorrow' I promised myself quietly.) We sat in silence for a bit as the full moon rose higher. It was a school night and I was sure dad was going to make us leave soon.

So I was surprised when few minutes later a harried nurse hurried into the room. "Nara-san you're needed immediately. There's been an attack." She looked anxious and tight. (NO wonder she looked so upset; the last attack in the village had been the Kyubi. My mind was racing. I didn't know enough of the storyline for this. Was there supposed to be an attack on the village? I didn't think anything major happened after Shisui's death except the massacre and that had been weeks later. But what if it was the massacre coming early…)

Dad paused thinking quickly. "Shikamaru, Kageko, wait here until I send either your uncles or a Nara to come get you. Don't leave this room. Theres Anbu guarding it right now and they'll watch you for now." He was more serious then I'd ever seen him. (Of course he was; this was an attack on the village.) He moved out of the room, faster then I had ever seen him move, at odds with his usual slow shuffle. Shika looked at me wide eyed and I returned his gaze with the same wide eyes. What could be going on?

'The Uchiha massacre?' I continued that line of thinking 'But I saved Shisui. That should've stopped it.' Except…. Shisui hadn't been awake to tell anyone anything. Maybe his death hadn't hurried along the massacre, but instead postponed it. Which meant we were no trapped in a room with one of the (last?) Uchiha (who I was sure was a target to be killed). The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I was right. I broke my gaze from Shika and instead leaned to climb on top of Shisui.

"Shisui! Shisui! Wake up! Now is not the time try and be a Nara!" I shook his shoulder. Shika grew even more wide eyed at my antics. This was quite unlike me, but I was panicking. If the crow guy decided to come here, which seemed likely, I had no chance in hell of winning against him, even with Shika's help. But Shisui might. And I was not going to risk my older brothers life to the competency of the watching Anbu. (Anbu who probably knew nothing as the attack was recent and they'd been here guarding a coma patient. Besides Itachi _was_ Anbu and Shisui's cousin. They probably trusted him. I shook Shisui harder.)

A groan, then another let me know he was waking. I shook his shoulder harder. When he finally opened his eyes, I was leaning right over his face.

"Are you awake yet Shisui? This isn't the time to be sleeping. You need to be awake. Theres an attack somewhere. You need to be ready to fight."

"Huh" He blinked awake shifting from sleep to wakefulness like only a non-Nara ninja could. He tested his fingers, closing and opening his fists. "What's going on?" I repeated that there was some kind of attack on the village. "Well…I don't really know how much help I'll be. I seem to be on some very strong painkillers, and they're still not quite working properly. Shika face palmed. I didn't bother instead leaning back and sighing gloomily as my chance at survival dropped ever lower..

"So what kind of attack? I don't sense the nine tails, but to be honest I don't sense much right now." His hand crept up to feel the bandages around his head and he snapped his head towards me admonishing me, "Yatta, Kage, we need to talk about you being careful. That was very dangerous what you did."

I ignored his scolding, instead looking at Shika who seemed to pick up on my urgency and was eyeing me, Shisui and the room with a calculating eye. Still, this was not good. At this point I had psyched myself out and thought it must be the Uchiha attack, but there was no way to let Shika know. (And even if by some small chance I was wrong, any attack on Konoha was a big deal; we were a peaceful village. It was why the threat of one had sent dad running.)

"We don't know what the attack is, but dad went to go handle it. He told us to wait here" Shikapiped up. My senses felt like they were on high alert. I hadn't completely recovered from my chakra exhaustion, but there was no helping that now. (I heard something. Maybe. A noise like something falling on the ground. A clumsy nurse? Something less innocuous?) I tensed slightly but Shika continued on talking to Shisui like nothing was wrong. "I wish we had brought the shogi board. Then we'd have something to do while we waited." (I had definitely heard something this time. The curtain fluttered ) "and then maybe you'd actually learn something cause you have to sit still and pay attention."

I hopped across the bed to Shisui's other side, shadowed by Shika when the light form the moon was covered. Shika pulling out a kunai, but kept it looped on his finger, ready and versatile. I copied him crouching slightly lower, eying at the figure perched in the window while Shika again looked around at our environment for help.

"Tachi?" Shisui exclaimed/slurred, surprised. (the painkillers were definitely not helping this whole situation.) "Do you have any idea whats going on? The kids have no clue." He was so calm at seeing his cousin in the window. _He trusted him_. For a second I envied his ignorance, but then I remembered that crow dude was here to kill Shisui.

"I've just come from killing the clan."Itachi's voice was stilted. "You're the last one left Shisui." He turned his blood red gaze to me and Shika. I trembled; he made me want to kill myself to spare his gaze. What a frightful aura he could project. ('At least I wont be scared of Shisui anymore' I thought brightly. Literally nothing I had experienced up until this point in my life was as bad as this killing intent.)

"I hadn't expected guests. I even bothered to check the front desk. You weren't signed in." (He almost sounded annoyed at the breach in the rules. If it wasn't a life or death situation I would've laughed. As it was my lips twitched. Thank god for lazy dads, amirite?) Itachi turned his focus back to Shisui.

"But he clan…. and Danzo… He betrayed me but still…Was this the only way left?" Shisui sounded lost and he struggled to get his words out coherently. But he did not sound surprised. I narrowed my gaze at him. What a little shit. No wonder he had been so tense the past few weeks. Still he was letting a little too much out in front of us, probably the effects of the painkillers. Shika was going to want an explanation later.

"Yes." Itachi spoke with such finalty. If I hadn't been frozen in fear I would've shivered.

"Then go ahead. For the clan." Shisui turned his gaze away from Itachi, instead focusing on something far off in the distance, but I could see his hand shaking and crow dude was moving forward and thats what made me snap.

'Did Shisui just give crow dude the go ahead to murder him? _What the fuck kind of world is this?'_ I met Shika's gaze and he shook his head at me in mutual disbelief.

"This is _not_ what she had in mind when she woke you up." Shika admonished Shisui.

They both blinked, I guess forgetting we were even present (That Nara chakra was something else. Just made us unnoticeable I guess)

I could only huff in agreement, too busy forming hand seals. As they both turned towards us again, I reached out with my shadow and caught Itachi before his eyes could focus on me. (I remembered form the show that the sharinggan was super torture-y so I wouldn't make that mistake if I could avoid it). He froze, tanto still raised to slice through Shisui.

"Kage, stop! Itachi…like a brother to me…I can't… my family…gone…For the village, and the Uchiha…" He struggled to give me an excuse without letting me know this was a village sanctioned murder-fest. I was unmoved. Itachi turned his head towards me (holy shit my hold wasn't strong enough if he could move his head to look at me, FUCK WHAT AM I GONNA DO) and eyed me with his bright red eyes. They began to shift from the normal three tomoes that I was used to from Shisui into something else (FUCKFUCKFUCK) before they shifted back to three tomoe. (Ohthankgod maybe he doesn't know how yet) Distantly I heard a door slam open and feet running off. I paid them no mind.

"I came to this village to get strong. To learn how to use shadows. To be like my okaa-san." Itachi looked unmoved, but I wasn't saying this for his sake. No I was facing Itachi, but my words were for Shisui's because his suicidal dumbass needed to hear this. (I had been reincarnated but I couldn't be sure that he would if he died, soft now, he was going to live and the was final) "My okaa-san protected her precious people" My voice began to strain from the effort of holding Itachi in place. I began to get tunnel vision. Now I focused more on Itachi, and his face. "Shisui-kun is one of my precious people and _I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL HIM."_ The last part came out as a snarl. Itachi looked a little unnerved. Shisui was saying something again, but I ignored him. I could feel myself running out of chakra, but I didn't let go. Even when I felt the last little bit drain, I clenched tighter, feeling Crow dude test the hold. I was no longer aware of my surrounding, and I couldn't say for sure that Shika was safe. That help was on the way. And so I couldn't let him go. I felt Colder and Colder. And still, I didn't let go. My vision grew darker but I held on. Until I was sure Shika and Shisui were safe, _I would not let go._ I breathed in, but the air was so cold it made me want to cough. My arms felt heavy and I dropped them to my side, releasing the ram hold, but my shadow possession remained firmly in place. Itachi held my gaze and I stared back defiant.

"Let go" He snarled, finally losing some composure. (I only vaguely noted the loss in control. I was already so COLD that his killing intent spike didn't even make me flinch.) I held on. There was no more Chakra and I didn't think I had anything left to give to the jutsu. I was frozen through and through.

And then suddenly: movement.

A few dozen shuiken were thrown over my head, aimed for Itachi. I flinched away from them in surprise finally dropping the jutsu. Itachi moved ducking from shrunken and moving to defend from the new threat at the door. People moved, jumping over the beds to slam into Itachi. He held them back with his tanto. Shisui was finally quiet staring wide-eyed at the fight. I distantly noted that they were Anbu(with colored masks this time) but didn't have any energy to do anything more. I fell slowly to my side (at least it felt slow but everything felt slow. Time, breathing, my heart beat) falling on Shisui's bed, where he was saying something, but I couldn't hear. My ears were ringing all I could hear was the slow quiet thud of my heart and I didn't… want…to breath…anymore… The air was so cold it hurt.

The last thing I remembered was wondering if the I would ever remember what the sun felt like, because I was so cold, I couldn't imagine the warmth.

When I finally woke up, I didn't open my eyes right away. Everything hurt. Every muscle felt like I had run a triathlon and I had a pounding migraine behind my left eye. (I hoped these weren't permamnt. I was glad to leave them behind in my past life). I could voices, quietly talking. I zeroed in on those.

"-In my class at the academy. She's at the bottom of the ranking…" Well that was a boring conversation. Emo kid. I recognized his voice. He didn't seem like emo kid yet though. (Maybe he was still in shock. Or maybe it was because Shisui was still alive. Regardless I hoped saving Shisui changed _something_ cause at this point I was feeling like all it accomplished was me in a hospital bed) I took a second to try and guess the chakra signatures around me. Yup, Sasuke was talking to Shisui. Shika was right next to my hand. Dad was in the hallway talking to someone. Mom stood right next to him. And there was somebody in the roof. (Huh. probably more Anbu)

Shika poked my side. I grimaced. So he knew I was awake. Well he was better at pretending to sleep then I was. I opened my eyes. A Shika, a worried and guilty Shisui, and (Ahh there's what I was waiting for) an angsty looking Sasuke trying to make himself look aloof.

"Ahh Kage-chan you're awake! Let me go get your dad—" Shika smirked and stood before Shisui could rise, pushing down on Shisui's shoulders. (Ahh bless whatever gods gave me Shika in this new life. Awake for only a minute and the kid could read my mind)

"No, no Shisui, I insist. You should stay here with my sister. I'm sure you guys have so much to talk about." Shisui winced. Sasuke hnged, trying to make himself relevant to the conversation. I looked on unimpressed (But internally amused at emo kid finally being the emo kid I had been waiting for. Fine so he hadn't changed, but at least I knew what to expect).

"You're right of course Shika." I said aloud. My voice was raspy from disuse, but I continued on, playing annoyed. (I had survived an impossible, unavoidable death. Couldn't be bothered to be annoyed, not that Shisui needed to know that) "Couldn't leave Shisui alone for even a second as he's on suicide watch." Shika's smirk grew more pronounced as he could tell I was gonna bounce right back from my near death experience.

Shisui's wince grew more pronounced and he tried to defend himself. "Ah Kage-kun, I wasn't —" I didn't let him finish. (now that we were out of our near death experience, Happy to have lived or not, Shisui was gonna listen and learn.)

"Nuh uh. You don't get o talk. You tried to sacrifice yourself. I told you during one of our talks that hero-antics were not cool. _I repeadtly said that dying for a cause was stupid if your death changed nothing_. I explained that the only way to project change was through your own personal actions. Accountability and all that. What makes you think sacrificing yourself, eepcially considering everything we'd talked about— _for your already dead and now irredeemable clan—_ was in anyway something I'd be okay with? Was in anyway something that you should choose to do? It was literally the most illogical, stupid, irresponsible—" Here mom interrupted me with hug bursting into the room from the hallway, followed by a more sedate dad and Shika. Sasuke looked on with a frown of disapproval growing more pronounced with every word I said about clans and irredeemable. (inwardly I chuckled. 'Oh good he doesn't like that I'm lecturing his cousin. I just made an enemy _for life_ ' I snickered even harder, pleased that I knew what I was dealing with in emo kid. )

I shot another fake disappointed look at Shisui, which he returned with an apologetic look. I ignored the look and focused on mom. (Inwardly I was so grateful to have skipped the, 'Why did you risk your life and save me from Anbu?' phase I thought I was gonna have to go through. I was always looking for a silver lining.)

She explained my health, saying I had suffered from extreme chakra exhaustion. The hospital had very limited experience with it and I was told that if I hadn't been in a hospital, my chance of survival were next to none. (As a quick aside, apparently the little experience they did have came from a ninja who showed up frequently with near extreme chakra exhaustion. My bets were on a certain silver haired ninja, who happened to be my favorite character, but I kept the thought to myself)

It wasn't long before I was released as there wasn't much else the hospital could do for me. I had already been here, near comatose for a week now. Instead, I was told to rest and take it easy and to avoid using the family jutsu until I was healed as shadow use tended to lower the overall body heat of the user. I silently agreed. Every breath still hurt and my whole body still felt weary and cold. The walk back to the Nara compound saw me hunched over slightly, shuffling along slowly in a slouch. (If mom and and dad had suddenly enlightened looks about why another chakra exhausted ninja they knew and his way of walking, I had no way of knowing) Still they said nothing and the walk back was comfortably quiet. Or at least it was for us Nara's. I could tell Shisui was dying to say something but kept biting back whatever he had to say. He would probably tell me out of the way of his little cousin. His little cousin who was shooting me death glares and haughty looks of disdain. ('What a little shit.' I thought gleefully. I was so looking forward to messing with the emo kid from now on. I know he just went through a traumatic event and all, but so did I and that entitled me to just as much pity!)

I think it was Sasuke that held him back from saying anything anyway. Instead, at the compound gates the two bid us goodbye (Shisui said goodbye and Sasuke let out a 'Hng' to let us know he was leaving). Mom and dad lead Shika home. Once inside, Shika and I could no longer hold back the laughter that had been building since the gate. Shika and I shared a look, then burst out laughing. The guffaws hurt my still sore chest but I couldn't help it. Mom and dad looked at us with raised eyebrows, but I simply looked back then said "Hng" Shika let out another peal of laughter, setting us off for another round. Dad stifled a laugh while mom walked away.

"Honestly, you three." Still I could hear the smile in her voice and finally, for the first time since the night with Shisui and the anbu attack, I felt comfortable.


	6. Chapter 6

**We** **'** **re moving right along.** **Little** **things are starting to be changed to affect cannon down the line; see if you notice them.** **Also, yes I know that Kage is really snarky/bitchy, but I imagine going from a peaceful life as a future doctor to being murdered, reborn and raised in a violent world of ninjas would be slightly traumatizing, so she gets to have slightly unhealthy coping mechanisms. A little sarcasm never killed anyone. Let me know if you like it, hate it, don't understand something or whatever!**

~Line break~

Time passed quickly. Shisui and I had quickly moved past any lingering issues we had with each other and continued our runs. We also increased our practices. I guess Sasuke didn't realize we were friends, because he contented himself with ignoring me and Shika. (Also Naruto. And his fangirls. And basically everyone in the class) He had embraced his emo-ness full spring. He actually kind of distanced himself from his cousin as well, Shisui confided in me during on of our runs. Apparently Shisui reminded him of Itachi and Shisui's failure to save the clan (Which I thought was bullshit).

I fell into a non-pattern of running, sleeping, failing, and studying. The studying, although done secretly, was taken seriously. I had realized that I had no interest in being in such a shitty position again. When I asked dad for advice on what to study, he brought me to the clan library and gave me a choice of three different supplementary topics. I could either choose to use them as a boost to my specialization, or choose to specialize in just the topic.

I wasn't interested in research and development—that was what most Nara's went into, which meant if anyone guessed my expertise,—And they likely would considering my family name—I'd have extra work to do. The second choice was fuinjutsu, or the study of seals. This one was less likely to be guessed then research and development. I nope'd it anyway. I could buy tags and storage seals if needed, and dad promised to show me the simple ones he's used anyway. Besides, it didn't fit my current fighting style at all. The third one though caught my attention. Really, looking back, there was no chance that I would've chosen any other self-study project.

After dad showed me the library, I spent my last 2 years in the academy continuing to skate by all my courses and self-studying medical ninjutsu. I had thought that already knowing the human body would help me (and it did!) but not as much as I had hoped.

As a quick aside: the human body runs on systems: the digestive system, the endocrine system, etc. I knew the detail of them all like the back of my hand. In my past life, I had planned on going for a surgical residency and I needed to know how each system interacted with the others. Unfortunately for my past knowledge, in this new world, I wasn't just forced to learn the chakra system. Because every other system was impacted by the introduction of the Chakra network as well, I needed to learn how the introduction of a new system affected the other body systems.

Still, after a small learning curve, my studying picked right back up. By the time graduation came around, I was able to heal small cuts, bruises, speed along chakra store regeneration, and help coax along bone regeneration. Unfortunately I was far from a fully certified medical nin, but I thought for 12, I was pretty damn good.

I had also made a new friend. I freaked out the pink haired strongwoman, but we'd moved past that quickly enough. I think she put up with my strangeness because I was nice to her and most of the girls in the class were… not to put it nicely. Ino was friendly enough until she started her own obsession with Sasuke. Once they both realized their crush, their friendship kind of fizzled out.

Sakura put up with me and all my snarky comments (which I apparently made a lot of; getting older was making me more talkative) because I was willing to show her medical ninjutsu. None of the academy instructors would show a student the delicate techniques because the chakra control demanded was too high, however Sakura had naturally perfect control and I worked pretty hard with Shisui and Shika to bring mine as close to perfection as I could.

(I think it was also my casual acceptance of Sakura's superior chakra control that made her put up with and even like me. But to be honest, _of course_ I expected the pink haired badass I remembered from the show to be better then me at med jutsu. I think my expectations for her future strength flattered her but I wasn't messing around there either; she was freaking awesome later and hopefully an early start would change her into that awesome person faster.)

Shisui was willing to be my practice patient even though I was 12. As I had progressed with my shadow training and our spars, I also became more proficient with my mothers style of fighting. Bruises and pulled muscles were now more likely to occur, but with my improvement in medical training, our spars became quicker paced and slightly more reckless.

I found them fun and exhilarating. I'm not quite sure what Shisui thought, but he never turned down a fight, so I hoped he agreed. And besides, it wasn't to say that I was walking away uninjured. Oh no. I was walking away _much_ worse off then Shisui because self-healing is more difficult then healing another ninja. It was why the first rule of med-nins that Sakura and I had learned was to be able to dodge and dodge well.

At 12 to Shisui's (barely) 17 years old, I was always losing the fights. However I like to think I put up a pretty good fight. Shisui was an Anbu captain and capable sharingan user. Losing to him was better practice then winning against any one of my classmates. (except Shika. When he tried, he was cold, analytical, and an incredibly gifted ninja. Thankfully he didn't try often.) Between the experience gained fighting, the practice earned at medical ninjutsu, and the speed maintained and improved on out runs, I was quite the hidden weapon. Best of all, was it was still a secret. Oh I'm sure dad could tell what his kids were up to. And Shika and Shisui had known from the beginning of course. But the beauty of it was, no one else knew everything to put it together. I worked with Naruto on his taijutsu stances and his theoretical work. I only worked with Sakura on medical ninjutsu. Choji was my academy sparring partner, as he was a technical opposite of my fighting style, and even then I slowed myself down (Besides choji could guess from dealing with Shika).

No one would think to put together the pieces of a lazy Nara. This was was too much work and effort to go through just to be underestimated, and besides everyone downplayed Nara intelligence way too much. People would doubt an _Academy student_ could have planned this level of deception from the age of 6. I just cackled because I wasn't even the first Nara to have planned out my mediocrity. Dad had tried, as well as Okaa-san and it was apparently a clan tradition to do be as average as possible, with skills that were totally unmatched for your profile.

And at 12, just shy of 13, I had achieved my goal. I had passed the graduation exam yesterday with Shika and our family had gone out to celebrate along with Ino and Choji's family. The dinner had been pleasant up until dad, Inochi, and Choza had to leave for something. For a a few minutes there my whole chest had felt frozen again. I tensed but tried not to let anyone know. Still, dad being called away reminded me of _that_ _night_ and I couldn't help the tension. Shika noticed (probably because he felt something similar) and we both of visibly relaxed when dad and our uncles came back.

I already knew what team Shika was going to be on. It made sense to keep the clan heirs together and it was a tried to true matching in our village to keep Akimichi-Yamanaka-Nara teams. Whenever a graduating class had them together the teams were always formed, from what I could see of our Nara cousins. It made sense. They were an exceptional combination as far as teams went. But that didn't tell me what team I was going to end up on. I had a slightly lower then average scores in everything our class. (Mom had gotten to Shika and he was forced to aim for the center of the pack. It was almost as challenging as failing to maintain exactly the average score of the class, so count me impressed). I was pretty ticked when demon boy had gotten dead-last. (I had to put in so much effort to be last when I was still aiming for it and he just coasted along on the village hatred and discrimination for him. It just wasn't fair. Worst of all was that I _knew_ he didn't deserve the spot because I tutored the kid after school and we was a middle of the pack if not above average student in most subjects)

Humming to myself, I continued my slow walk to the academy next to Shika. We swung by the Akimichi compound and picked up Choji, before continuing on our way to the academy. The three of us barely made it on time, earning us a glare from Sensei. At least we weren't as bad as Ino and Pinky bursting in the room. He didn't even spare his prized students a second look. I sighed, but figured that entrance was the most exciting thing that was going to happen this morning.

Lowering my head in my desk to rest until the team announcement, I wondered again what the teams would be. I studied the classroom from my position. Girls were fluttering around Sasuke's corner hoping to get his attention and were obviously vying to be his teammate, but he just looked more distant and cold then ever. I frowned internally. He had been snapping at Shisui lately, and my friend had no idea how to respond. Shisui wasn't home all that often between his Anbu and jonin missions, (I would know as I had not seem him to often lately) so to come home to an angry kid was frustrating. I spotted Kiba in the front of the classroom, showing off Akamaru to one of the civilian girls. He and I had got along pretty well after the leaf exercise incident. Perhaps he'd be my team member? I could work with that. He listened when I gave instructions, as long as I explained anything he didn't understand after the fact. Sometimes he joined me and Naruto in out impromptu after school lessons. Or maybe Hinata, sitting off to the side, looking shy and lonely. (She had freaky eyes, but otherwise, she and I got on fine. Usually because I was too lazy to talk and she too shy.)

My musing was interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke kissing. 'Huh, I didn't see that relationship coming.' Clearly neither did they because they broke apart yelling at each other. The surrounding girl proceeded to beat the living shit out of Naruto. I winced in sympathy. I didn't mind the Blondie when he wasn't with the emo kid. Naruto on his own was excitable, but in our lessons, I had learned to temper that down to almost normal levels of excitement. And he was super easy to teach (manipulate) as long as I mentioned that Hokages could do it. Still you don't put two below averages together soI sadly counted him out as a potential teammate.

"…team 7 will be Nara Kageko, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzamaki Naruto"

'Well damn. Count me super wrong today. Why though…' A dead-last and a below average honestly didn't make sense with the rookie of the year. And I had made my stupidity seem natural as well as my rise to mediocrity seem slow and painful. I was certain that no one except Shika, Choji, Shisui, and dad (not even mom knew!) were certain that I was actually a decent ninja. Sure Sakura, Naruto, and Kiba might guess I was above average in some some areas but overall they would have the impression that I sucked. I had nearly failed the exam yesterday just to hold up the illusion! (Only moms wrath held me back)

I Hmmed thoughtfully, and let myself fall into the cold analytical side of my brain I was developing. 'The Uchiha heir cant get special treatment like an individual jonin sensei, but if his teammates die, why would anyone hinder the team with replacements?' Yea there. That seemed plausible.

Still I wonder if our jonin sensei knew this plan. I doubted it. He had been my favorite character to watch when Kayla dragged me down to binge with her (Like I had a thousand times before, I regretted bringing my homework with me and not just sitting there and watching the fucking show. Life could have been so much simpler if I knew what was coming) and as my favorite character, I did know a few things about him. Hatake Kakashi had silver hair, looked pretty cool, wasn't as lazy as assumed (hm maybe I was even subconsciously basing my underestimation on his own?) and had a pretty tough stance on teamwork. As in 'If you don't have teamwork you're not a team.' kind of stance. I figured whatever the village council was planning with me and the demon dying, that I had no intention of fulfilling their wish. I was also pretty sure that I could get our Jonin-sensei on my side too.

As the other team's Jonin sensei led teams out, the classroom slowly emptied out. Shika shot me a 'your so lucky look' as Ino dragged him out. Every fan girl walked out of the room holding back tears. Sensei looked at us pitifully before claiming he had to "go do something good luck waiting". Us three remained seated in the now empty classroom.

'Right, right, I remember this. He was always late and came up with ridiculous excuses. That were true? Or bold faced lies? Hm maybe I don't remember' I sighed again, slumping down further in my seat and deciding to take a nap to kill time,

'I can worry about the shitty team situation later.' Pink haired strong-women was supposed to be on the team and I had taken her spot. I hadn't even paid attention to what team she got assigned either. I was lost in my slightly worried about the timeline thoughts when a hand slammed down on the desk next to me. 'or I can deal with it now' I frowned in annoyance. I sat up slowly staring at an haughty looking emo boy and a very smug looking demon kid.

"LISTEN UP, DATTEBAYO, AS A FUTURE TEAMMATE OF THE HOKAGE, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE AWESOME. TEME, YOU SHOULD JUST DROP OUT NOW, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto went down the 'piss off and alienate any chance at team camaraderie' route while I sighed and

"How rude." Sasuke sneered at both of us. 'Shit, how had pinky handled this before?' "Just don't get in my way; either of you. If Konoha didn't require teams, I'd already be a chunin." His (failed) intimidation piece said, he stalked off to the furthest corner of the classroom. Naruto immediately lit up, and started yelling back at him. I wondered idly if Sasuke really thought he was Chunin level yet. Sure he had the skills, but not the practice. As a village focused on teamwork, Konoha expected Chunins to be able to lead squads of ninja. 'You literally cant reach Chunin on your own in Konoha' I thought despondent at my teammate's stupidity.

I decided to say as much outloud, and even tried to word it nicer then I had thought it, "After circumstances arriving from the last war, Konoha only allows its genin to apply for the chunin test in units three. There is literally no way for you to become a chunin without working with Naruto and I unless you decide to try giving the academy another year and end up reassigned to a different team." From the way he stiffened, I could see he wasn't happy with that option. He opened his mouth to say something back, but I continued, acting like I hadn't seen him, "As teammates to one of the last Uchiha alive, I'm sure you find us quite lacking. However Naruto and I have already practiced together and I'm sure that the three of us could actually work fairly well together." That was a bold faced lie but I kept a pleasant smile on my face anyway. "And it's not like I'm looking for glory. You and Naruto can dort that between the two of you." I was quite sure that was the longest speech I'd ever said within the academy and Naruto ogled me while Sasuke gave me an appraising look.

I was frustrated with Naruto. Like I'd said before, it was easy enough to work with him (Cough cough manipulator say what) but whenever Sasuke came into the picture, that was it. He had to go prove he was better. And opening up our first conversation as a team by antagonizing one of the team members? "Naruto, I know you have a dream, but what have I said about tact?" He burned red then mumbled an apology out in Sasuke's general direction without making eye contact. When Sasuke Hnnged in reposed, I held back a snort and decided that I had done enough for now.

Trying to move on, Naruto was setting up an eraser prank in the sliding door, giggling like a school girl. Many had fallen for it for its sheer simplicity, including Iruka sensei. Sasuke simply sneered it. I readjusted my estimations,' Right he's only okay with me now, not Naruto. Fuck, that attitude has got to go. Screw whatever plot line I'm messing up.'

It was a while after that, our jonin instructor walked in. The eraser fell on his head and we all froze. Well, the other two froze because of the eraser— I froze because the silver hair was _super fucking cool_. No where near as gravity defying as the show made it seem, it was slightly longer then normal and spiky. Grey silver, while an odd color, was nothing considering I had class with a blue haired emo, a quiet pinky, a platinum blonde that barbie was envious of. You get the picture; silver wasn't all that weird.

" My first thought: I don't like you guys." He smiled with his eyes before continuing " Meet me on the roof in five minutes.

I sighed standing up slowly and stretching. 'Don't worry sensei.' I thought, 'I don't like us too. How bothersome.'

~Line break~

Introductions were very telling. Kakashi sensei gave as boring and bland an intro as possible which left me jealous because it was almost word for word what I had planned on saying. (maybe I was basing my 'I'm not a threat or a good ninja' attitude on him, after all. Food for thought. ) Sasuke, as an emo little shit that was getting on my last nerve with his broody nature, declared vengeance on a certain man. Naruto, forgetting the lecture from earlier, was super obvious in his hatred for Sasuke and his love of ramen. He also unsurprisingly declared himself "FUTURE HOKAGE, DATTEBAYO!" right in my ear causing me to wince.

"Ah I'm Nara Kageko, call me Kage. I like…." Hm lets be general with this whole thing then. "Sleeping. I dislike…"And a little something to piss off emo boy, "Hard work and vengence." AHA it got a twitch. I could work with that. "My hobbies include cloud watching. My dream for the future…" I could be truthful here and they wouldn't realize just how honest I was being, "… is to retire at a decent age to live a peacefully long life."

Kakashi sensei sighed at the three of us. "Right, so all of you are more then a little weird. Lets move on then, shall we? We have the second part of the graduation exam tomorrow." Naruto predictably freaked out. I might've been worried if Shisui hadn't warned me that jonin-instructers had a secondary test. Clearly he hadn't told Sasuke though because he also looked super tense. Kakashi explained, "We need to fill the genin corps somehow. Generally around 60 percent of teams fail their jonin sensei's exam. Likely only 3 teams at most will pass tomorrow. Whoever doesn't goes to the corps. From what Ive seen, count yourselves in the 60 percent of failures" I nodded slowly. Sounded about right. He hadn't mentioned the option to return to the academy but I suppose he wanted to scare us a little more.

"Tomorrow you will have my exam. Be at training field 3 at sunrise tomorrow. Don't bother eating breakfast, you're just gonna throw it up." Giving another eye smile he disappeared. I was gaping now though, joining in my teammates horror. 'Oh hell no. Waking up before dawn to be somewhere at dawn? Skipping breakfast?' (in both my lives, eating was my passion. My love of foods made me a favorite at the Akimichi compound, even if my small appetite held me back)

Right. This was not gonna work. I made some quick adjustments to the orders in my head. I had never worked so hard in this life that I threw up, so consider that piece of advice ignored. Second, as the daughter of the jonin commander, I had researched all the future jonin-sensei possibilities, including team seven's. While Hatake Kakashi was out dated in most of dad's bingo books (must've gone into anbu for a bit) he was known as a complete badass. Second to almost none within the Konoha ranks. But he was also known around he village as a perpetually late perv. Late as in never showed up earlier then 2 hours late. No way was I waking up before dawn to show up somewhere that he wouldn't be. 'Alright then, consider that all advice ignored.' I opened my mouth to let my teammates know, but both of my teammates ignored me, beginning another argument and rushing to go leave and train for tomorrow.

'Shika was so lucky.' I thought despondently 'If he says to jump, his team says how high—even Ino.' It was the way we were raised. Protect the Yamanaka no matter what. Always listen when a Nara has a plan. Never comment on an Akimichi's weight. And here I was with a team that not only didn't bother listening to me, but flat out ignored me when I tried to speak.

I laid back on the ground, looking up at the clouds. "This is so bothersome."

That night, Shika gave me one of our silent looks. " I know." I said aloud, shaking my head in agreement that the academy had been a blessing we took for granted. I finished setting the table for mom. As we were about to all sit for dinner, there was a knock on the door. I sensed Shisui, so I rose to answer it confused. He had told me he was planning on celebrating the team nominations with Sasuke tonight.

"Ahhh Kage-chan" He rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "is the invitation for dinner still open? Sasuke was interested in being alone tonight after all his training, so Im free after all." He gave a slight, self-depreciating chuckle. I frowned at him, upset. 'Why was my teammate such an emo little shit?'

I stepped forward and puled Shisui into a hug. "Of course Shisui. You're always welcome here." He tensed for a second stepping back and ruffling my hair, his awkward look falling back into his normal smile, although there was still hidden tension on his face.

Mom had already set another place while I was getting Shisui, so she had either over heard or had sensed him. 'Probably both' I decided. Mom was a _really_ good sensor and I was jealous because I was really bad (comparatively).

Dinner relaxed Shisui and pulled me from my annoyed mood. I ranted a bit about the stupidity of my team set up and also let off some steam about Sensei's advice for tomorrow. Shisui and dad both burst out laughing at hearing my reasoning for not following either piece but refused to elaborate. Shika merely shrugged in mutual confusion with me. It was the perfect way to spend the evening and I was sad when Shisui had to leave because it meant the evening was coming to an end. I walked him to the gates of the compound, even as he laughing teased me that there was no need. It was as we neared the gates that he got more serious. "Ah Kage-chan, I want to apologize in advance for my cousin. He's become rather fixated on revenge and he's kind of…"

"Abrasive." I supplied. Shisui gave me a look. I laughed quietly. "Don't worry Shisui, I wont blame you for him. It's gonna be bothersome dealing with him, but I suppose I can put up with it."

Shisui merely gave me another look before continuing, "Ano, don't let him get to you. You're an amazing kunoichi and I'm sure if anyone can smack this team into shape, it'll be you." He blessed me with a smile. Not his bright, blinding, overly excited smile. This one was a quiet reassurance, the kind that said 'I believe in you!' that I sometimes felt like was just for me. "Congrats on graduating Kage." He said, turning and leaving.

I stood there for a second holding down a blush, before turning back to go home with a slight smile on my face, (what was I blushing for? The lack of honorific? I never used an honorific for him. The smile? I never blushed at it before. Maybe it was because it was night time and a combination of the smile, and lack of honorific and the crush I had slowly been developing. Regardless, I wasn't gonna think about it anymore)


	7. Chapter 7

**I've never tried to write an action scene before (the scene with Itachi was more tense then action) but I tried something this chapter. I hope it's realistic! Let me know what you think! Also side note, I should have one or two more chapters uploaded by tomorrow and then I'll go to once a week for uploads, probably on Saturdays. Because they're less often, they will probably be longer though so thats good news!**

~Line Break~

The next morning I was up early. (not as early as dawn but still early.) I set myself up with two packs, one on my hip, the other on my thigh. One was packed with shuiken, ninja wire, and kunai. The other was a mix of kunai, medical supplies, and some exploding tags I had made with dad's help. I was dressed just like I always dressed in the academy, Black pants, taped off from mid shin to ankle before my open toes sandles. Today, however unlike the academy, you could see the white tape because I had forgone my typical weights. I also wore the same fishnet light armor my family favored under a grey v-neck. Looking at Shika slumped at the kitchen table, I could see the similarities between us. down to our posture and inky, spiked hair. I gave a slight grumble for hello, which Shika reciprocated. Mom began to scold me for waking up late, but waved her off, explaining that I was going to eat on the way so that I was less late. She accepted that to Shika's shock ( I could see the beginnings of a morning routine in his head) and handed me some onigiri to munch on while I walked. It would be enough to fill me. (while I loved eating in both of my lives, I couldn't deny that I was _tiny_ in this one. I would be lucky to ever be much taller then 5 foot and I was slight. It was almost pixy like, except, while skinny, underneath my clothing was all muscle. Unfortunately 5 foot of muscle still doesn't need that much food. Truly a tragedy.)

I arrived at training ground 3 by 8 in the morning, still an hour and a half late, but in a much better mood then my teammates, who caught my finishing up the last bite of my onigiri. "YATTA, KAGE-CHAN YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO EAT, DATEBAYO!" Naruto screamed (again right in my ear. He needed to take a step back before speaking from now on)

I blinked slowly at him, then looked around. "Where's sensei?" I asked, glad to see my gut feeling on sleeping in had been right.

Sasuke and Naruto both scowled. "LATE" cried Naruto. (I had taken the step back to avoid the scream. Every little bit helped.) I nodded sagely. Sooooo glad I had slept in today instead of putting up with this for a few extra hours. "Say Kage-chan, why were you eating? You're gonna throw up, Dattebayo!" I tilted my head at him.

"Have you ever thrown up from working out?" Naruto looked as enlightened as if I'd shown him the sun. "Beside's, people need nutrients. Even if you throw them up, you can't get rid of all of them and something is better then nothing if we're gonna be doing a hard test today."

Naruto began jumping and down saying something about how smart an idea that was and he was going to make sure to eat extra for lunch to make up for it. I laughed quietly while Sasuke glared at me. "If I had failed because you were late…" He hissed at me threateningly.

I shrugged. "Then we all would've failed. So be it." He looked at me in astonishment. I briefly wondered if he had ever dealt with someone who didn't care about failure. 'Naruto for all his bravado, doesn't want to actually fail anything. He works hard to improve.' I had seen people like Sasuke when applying for medical school. People who couldn't possibly imagine not getting a perfect score. People who couldn't imagine a grade lower then an A. People who expected others to care about grades and scores are much as they do. 'Once I would've been just like that. But now? In this life?' I knew my skills were better than most of our class. No, I honestly didn't care if we failed. While I thought it would be awesome to be taught by the Hatake Kakshi from my dad's BINGO books, if we failed, we failed. I could try again next year. I still had some time before the war to get better. What was one more graduation exam in the grand scheme of things?

Sasuke was still gaping at me in horror, while Naruto kept up his unending one-sided conversation, now telling me what his options for lunch were (ramen, ramen and maybe some other kind of ramen?) I ignored them both to go lie down by the three training posts in the middle of the training ground, wondering what our test would be and how I could help this team work together.

The second I lay my head down, there was a puff of smoke and our sensei appeared. "LATE" cried Naruto. I scowled at sensei along with Sasuke. His thing was perfect to interrupt my nap, which made me think he'd been watching from somewhere. I was expecting another hour or so. Kakashi-sensei eye-smiled back. I think he could tell what I was thinking cause it looked extra fake to me. 'He must be annoyed I showed up late' I sat up and rolled into crosslegged seated position, looking up at sensei. Without meaning too, Naruto copied me, and Kakashi, shrugged and joined us on the ground, making Sasuke look stupid being the only one standing. His scowl deepened, but he grudgingly joined us on the ground.

"Sorry, sorry, there was a little old lady who needed help with her groceries on the way here…"

"Shops only opened an hour ago." I said innocently, widening my eyes and looking at him from under my fringe.

"…and before that, I forgot to feed my dogs so I had to turn back and make sure they were fed."

"It's best to feed dogs at midday and evening, not at dawn. Surely a dog owner like you would know that best?" I keep the doe eyes up, not for a second sounding angry at his being late, instead channeling innocence, my best weapon in pissing people off. (Something about playing dumb really got to people)

"…And before that there was a cat stuck in a tree that I needed to help down."

"How kind." I murmured lowering my head in acquiescence. I'd let him have this one for now.

He clapped his hands together. "Any~way, today we have your test! Its pretty simple for the rules." He stood, triggering Naruto to bounce up and Sasuke to slowly rise up. I stayed sitting tilting my head to the side and listening carefully. "I have two bells here" He indicated his side where two tiny, silver bells hung, "and you need to get them. A bell equals a pass!" He plopped an alarm clock on one of the training posts. He eye smiled at us and then clapped again. "You have until 12. Any questions?"

Naruto looked back and forth between the bells then us for a second (likely he was counting). "YAH Ojii-san theres not enough bells! There are three of us!" He indicated to us, "And only two bells!" I looked at Kakashi's face curious for how the explanation would go. As someone who I knew was the real og on teamwork, surely he wouldn't fail one of us?

"One of you will fail. At least one of you. Maybe all three of you if no one gets a bell." Eye-smile.

I frowned. That didn't make much sense. Teams passed or failed together. Besides, he was living legend. There was no chance that we were going to get the bells on our own. (wellllll I had been practicing the shunshin with Shisui no Shunshin, so maybe I had a chance without my weights, but it was unlikely unless he was really distracted and I would only have the one chance before he would have my measure)

Sasuke and Naruto didn't even question it. "HAH You're gonna fail teme!" Sasuke merely Hnged back at Naruto.

I ducked my head sighing then I slowly stood up form the ground and stretched. "hey guys I have an … Idea…"

Sasuke was already gone and Naruto was already losing to sensei. I blinked. It took me less then 3 seconds to stand up and stretch. Had our team really lost any chance at cohesion in 3 seconds? Sensei glanced at me and I could tell he was smirking, before turning back to Naruto. I watch Sensei send Naruto flying with a jab to his butt and sighed. 'This is so bothersome.'

I mentally calculated our odds as I made my way slowly to the forest wondering if I should look for cover. They weren't very good if I was being honest. I mean, they weren't very high in the first place, but working individually? Our chances were dropped. I scanned the treelike for a glance at Sasuke. Ah there he was hiding in a tree. He was pretty good, but I was good at infiltration and he wasn't even bothering to hide his chakra signature. While not as good a sensor as mom or Shika, I was decently average. I ambled over to him, deciding against hiding (when sensei was done playing around, we were done. Why bother messing around in the trees or bushes if he was definitely going to find us?)

"Yo Sasuke, I have a plan, wanna help?" He ignored me. Well that was rude. Ignoring me wasn't gonna make sensei _not_ notice him over here. "Yoooooo Sasuke, come on. Work with me here. I'm sure once we get Naruto we can—" Here he interrupted me

"You think working with two dead lasts is gonna help me? You're going to fail. End of story. Leave me alone to focus." He hissed this at me from his tree branch hiding spot. I frowned. Any civility from yesterday failing after he heard about a teammate being dropped. I guess it invalidated my argument from yesterday. And his chances were admittedly higher then Naruto's were working on his own, but all of ours were higher working together.

"Come on, hear me out. Haven't you heard to always trust a Nara's plan? Think smart, not act stupid? Listen, _I can use shadow capture_. And I know its not on any files at the academy, because I made sure Iruka thought I couldn't do it. If I can freeze him for even a second, that will higher your chances at catching him." Not a lie; I could use shadow capture. Not as well as Shika, but still reasonably well. Kakashi was a jonin though, and chances were he would be able to fight it. Which was why the best chance we had was to have Naruto and his clones hold him still while Sasuke moved in to grab the bells. Sasuke paused for a second to here my plan before Hgning and and hoping down from his tree cautiously and joining me. I sighed in relief. While there were only two bells, I had a feeling that the point of this was to work together. Even leaving aside my background knowledge of the character, the whole structure of the test made no sense.

Naruto was recovering in the woods a little ways off. He was just as easy to find as Sasuke because his chakra faintly glowed, there was so much. I weaved in between the trees and came up behind him. "Yo Naruto, we have a plan."

Before he could scream out his acceptance, I slammed a hand on his mouth. Still, there was a muffled shout of acceptance. "Right, well its pretty simple as far as strategy goes." He looked at me, vibrating with energy (I know I had promised myself to not compare Shisui and Naruto, but when they were both excited, they couldn't help but let it show. It was a-dor-a-ble)

"So we're gonna use your clones to hold sensei." I held up a hand to stop Naruto, "yes I know that he's too fast for you to grab, but you just need to distract him. I plan on using my family jutsu to freeze him in place for a second so that you can grab him. And I can really only promise a second. Still with you holding him and Sasuke grabbing—" I should've kept quiet.

Naruto burst out "WHAT? We don't need that teme. Let's do this. I'm gonna be Hokage, DATTEBAYO." I twitched along side Sasuke. (If the ninja world didn't already have ADHD as a diagnosis i was gonna be the one to create the label)

"Naruto," I explained patiently, "Our jonin sensei is… well he's a jonin, right?" Naruto nodded in agreement. "That means he's one of the best ninja in our village. Three fresh graduates from the academy don't have a chance against a war veteran of his caliber." He looked confused "we don't have a chance against someone like him." I simplified further.

Naruto now looked deflated, so I decided here was the time to introduce the reward, "UNLESS we all work together, Konoha works in teams for a you can work effectively with a team, as a group your pooled ability level can quadruple and even quintuple. That means our ability goes up 4 or 5 times what we are individually. Its why we bother creating cells in the first place." I hesitated to say the next part I really did. "You know…The Hokage was part of a team too… I bet if you put him on a team with any one in this village, he'd be able to work with them. _Even Sasuke-teme"_ Hopefully that wasn't too overdone. Now to step back and see the pieces fall together.

"YAT—" he quieted as when I gave a sharp rap on his wrist. "Yatta! If I'm gonna be Hokage, I can do it too! Let's work with Sasuke-teme and get the bells." Here he paused then looked horrified again, "But Kage! Theres only two bells!"

I smiled back kindly. "Don't worry. I have a plan for that! Come one lets figure out positions." Naruto grinned, again bouncing with energy, as I led him and Sasuke back through the forest, towards Kakashi's chakra signal. Once we were on the perimeter of the clearing I held out a hand and paused our group " Right, so here's what I'm thinking…" I grinned. It was fun playing poker with a stacked hand after all.

~Line break~

Kakashi POV

It was almost noon. He'd mentioned the time limit, but he wasn't sure they were eating attention as they only had a little over an hour left. He'd even started the test early giving them extra time. Regardless, Naruto was about due for one more beat down, and Sasuke probably wasn't going to give up that easily. The Nara girl hadn't tried anything. Honestly if he hadn't been one of the anbu who saw her hold back Itachi, he probably would written her off already. But she had managed to hold him off for few seconds. And even a few seconds was impressive enough for him to be watching her chakra signature. And more importantly, it said in her file from the academy that she didn't know the family jutsu which meant that at 12 she was already holding back her abilities from official review.

He'd noticed when she had gone to talk to Sasuke (how could he not; she was the antithesis of subtle) while he was dealing with Naruto and his clones. She had then moved on to Naruto with Sasuke in tow, while Kakashi stood alone in the clearing readind. And now all three of them were plotting in the woods. He sighed. At least that was one show of teamwork, but the two boys seemed to be making life difficult.

No, there was no point in passing this team. He wasn't so stupid as to fall for the councils stupid excuses. He wasn't planning on taking a team that was destined to have two genin fail or die. Did the council think he'd stopped caring for sensei's son? No, he wasn't going to pass a team like this. Even with an apparent Nara genius. She must be to have the foresight to hide her skills and to be able to talk Naruto and Sasuke around.

He twisted out of the way of three shuiken as Sasuke and Naruto finally burst from the trees, to attack him. They both launched themselves at him and —strike that this must be Naruto and a clone henged to look like Sasuke. Yup there was Sasuke's Chakra signature coming at him from his back. He ducked Naruto's punch and grabbed the real Sasuke's leg pulling him forwards and swinging him into the two Naruto's to burst the clones.

Speaking of chakra signatures where had the Nara gone? More Naruto clones burst out of the woods, some henged to look like Sasuke and the Nara (which was funny because they all rushed just like Naruto)and slammed into him, while Sasuke bounced up form the ground and launched himself at Kakashi once again. Kakashi continued to dodge dropping his book to his side, and scanning the tree line, wondering where the Nara had gone when

"ah and heres the last of you" he looked towards the forest where the three Kunai had just been launched at him. He knocked them to ground noticing with interest they had wire attached. Not often you see a Nara use weapons or ninja wire. Still, he kicked a Naruto in the chest launching him away and moved to pop the three other clones, while Sasuke took a second to prepare himself. Some of narutos clones moved to cover the direction from where the kunai had come from, one them moving to stand directly over the wire

Sasuke moved to attack once again, 'Let me guess another Fireball Jutsu. So original.' Kakashi sighed and moved to stab one of the remaining clones with a Kunai when…he… froze… suddenly three of the remaining Naruto clones launched at him grabbing his torso, his arms, holding him in place even as he fought the shadow capture. And Sasuke was already moving snatching at the two bells. Kakashi freed himself and twisted and he would've been able to stop just Sasuke, but Naruto was in the way and he yanked on Kakashi's arm and then the two bells were free.

Not a moment too soon because just as Sasuke pulled away clutching the bells, the alarm clock went off. Kakashi paused and then smiled at the clones and Sasuke.

"Time's up! Everyone out in the clearing." The real Naruto walked out form the tree line where he had thought Kage was. One of the Naruto clones hanged as Kageko shuffled forward and he realized it really was her, while the other clones dismissed themselves. Finally the clearing was back to just the four of them. Kageko didn't look tired at all. She was probably the most put together, but she hadn't stayed on the sidelines the whole time, she had just avoided physically fighting him.

Still, Kakashi had worked with enough Nara to see one of their plans. The ninja wire to get a straight shot at a shadow capture this close to midday. Moving closer then the tree line to avoid expending extra effort. Hiding amongst the clone-fodder. Convincing Naruto and Sasuke to work together in a way that actually complimented them. Definitely a Nara. He was a little surprised considering she wasn't supposed to be as smart as her brother, but he shrugged it off.

He smiled grimily. It was on to the next part. "Well Sasuke, You have two bells. You can either choose to pass one of your teammates or let them both fail." Nara or not, there was only so much you could plan for when there were only two bells. They probably thought they'd have a chance to talk before because the three—well two looked horrified. The Nara looked smug like she had expected this.

"Teme pass both of the bells to Naruto." Sasuke swung his head to stare at her, trying to understand. She smiled at him politely but her voice was firm. "Come on Sasuke, we don't have all day."

Kakashi was absolutely floored when the boy actually gave them to Naruto who simply stared at her, unclear on how he ended up with the bells. This was _not_ what he had expected after reading their files from the academy. One successful plan couldn't really make the team just trust her could it?

"Hmm, Now Naruto make one clone." He obliged and Kakashi sighed defeated by a twelve year old. He held back the laugh. He could get behind these students who won on technicalities. Sure he could fight it, but they had actually understood the lesson of the bell test. And besides the council was wrong; these genin were _strong_.

The girl reached for a bell and then gestured for the other clone to hand one to Sasuke. Once everyone was holding a bell, she smiled and turned to him.

"Taa daa" she flashed him a victory sign and a bright smile but spoke in such a flat voice that he actually coughed to hide his laugh.

"Well. That'll do it. You pass." Which was impressive considering he was determined to fail them. But clearly the Nara wasn't as stupid as all the instructor reports had said. And Naruto was alright too with skills that far exceeded his dead-last report. And Sasuke had managed to exceed all expectations by working with his team. And even giving up the bells for a second at the end there too, clearly with no idea what the plan was. "The point of this test was _teamwork_. Those that break the rules in the shinobi world are trash; but those that abandon their teammates are worse then trash. It was never going to just be one of you failing. It was always all or have to be able to rely on your teammates, and always have their back. To trust is one of the hardest things a ninja can do, but I expect you to trust your teammates." He pointed to the memorial stone in the distance. "The names inscribed on that stone are those that have served the village to their highest honor. They are the heres of Konoha." He paused lost in his memories for a moment.

"Alright! I've decided. Im gonna be Hokage and Im gonna get my name on that stone! Dattebayo!" Kakashi kept his face blank, but he saw the Nara wince. Her mothers name was on the stone after all— of course she knew what it was.

"Then you will die." Naruto gaped at him. Kageko turned away. Sasuke looked on trying to seem indifferent. "The names of the people on that stone are those that have died in service to Konoha… My best friends are all on that stone." He let the three soak that in before clapping his hands. "I will do my best to make sure you don't end up on that stone. After all, one of you was aiming for a peaceful retirement." Here he smiled and the mood lightened considerably. "But for now you have all passed. We will be team seven for now! Please meet outside the Hokage tower tomorrow morning at 8 for a team picture and our first mission assignment."

The three genin gather their scattered supplied and cleared out of the field, but Kakashi walked over to the stone. He was now a jonin-instructor and he had some family to tell. "Ah Obito, Sensei, Rin, I guess you might have been watching. But I have a cute genin team now…."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry I uploaded this late! I meant to get it up yesterday. Still, here's the beginning of the wave arc. Again, things are slowly veering off the cannon tracks and mid chunin exams, I expect them to be derailed. Hopefully including this chapter, I'll only need 3-4 chapters to conclude this arc. Chapter nine is also going up tonight once I give it a rough once over. Let me know what you think!**

 **(Also to answer a reviewer, the current timeline for Kage is this.**

 **-Born and raised in orphanage till the age of 3.5.**

 **-Brought to Konoha at 3.5 Begins academy at an old 6. She also meets Shisui after school at the age of 6. Shortly after meeting Shisui, she turns 7, meaning she's fairly old for her class. (Shisui is 12 and a chunin at this point in time)**

 **-Kage helps Shisui and deals the Uchiha massacre at 9.5, her third year in the academy. ( To make things make sense time wise, I have gone back and changed this from 8.5 in the previous version of the story because I can't add) (Shisui is 15 years old and now a jonin/in anbu)**

 **\- Kage graduate the academy at 12, again older then most of her classmates, as she's almost 13. (Shisui is now an anbu captain at 17.)**

 **If you notice any discrepancies in the story based on this timeline, please let me know! i can look into whatever mistake I made and make the appropriate edits.)**

~Line break~

Kakashi-sensei figured it out after 2 weeks. I'm shocked it took him that long. Maybe it didn't and he just appreciated the effort I had put in. Regardless, this still meant after two weeks I was forced into doing D-ranks with the rest of my team. And Sasuke wasn't speaking to me.

"When will the teme start talking to us again?" Naruto looked like a kicked puppy. I sighed.

"Once he's refilled his quota of words for the month." Naruto didn't respond, probably confused. "OKAY. Maybe we should've told him about using a shadow clone and a henge. I'M SORRY."

Sasuke looked up, "That's all I was asking for." I frowned at him.

"You didn't care about doing them at all until you found about me and Naruto."

"OF COURSE I CARE NOW; THIS IS YOUR FIRST D RANK AND THIS IS MY 32ND."

I sniffed. "I let Naruto keep my part of the payout minus the clan proceeds. No one gets a free ride on this team." (Kakashi hadn't said a word but I'm pretty sure he was finding this conversation ten times more interesting then his book. He hadn't turned a page in the last five minutes)"Besides. If you didn't want to do D ranks then you should've come up with a plan."

He scowled at me furious, before turning back to the fence we were supposed to be painting. Not willing to go back to work (Jeez D ranks were boring), I decided to drag this out a little longer. "After all, you can say that I was technically _helping_ you. I mean you want to be a chunin so badly. Mission practice is the best way to move up the ranks. By not physically being here, I was being the best kind of teammate."

In a move that was purely Naruto, he flung his paintbrush at my head reaching in his pack for kunai. Naruto grabbed him in a bear hug, pinning his hands to his side. "DON'T DO IT EMO" A vein popped in his head. ('Oh dear, I really shouldn't have used that name in front of Naruto') "KAGE IS OUR TEAM MEMBER AND TEAM SEVEN IS GONNA BE THE BEST DATTEBAYO!"

"Naruto!" He looked at me, surprised I was snapping at him when he was coming to my defense. Wagging my paint brush at him (and spilling paint all over the street, his and Sasuke's shirts, the grass, _everywhere_ ) "What have I said about screaming in people's ears?"

He let go of Sasuke and ruined his head sheepishly. "Don't do it. Sorry, teme, wont happen again." Kakashi coughed.

"Ma, I think you guys are taking long enough on this D rank."

"I wouldn't know how long a D rank takes; I've never done one before." I said and laughed as Sasuke once again moved to attack me.

~Line break~

"And you're sure your team is ready for a C rank, Kakashi-san?" The hokage looked skeptical. I kept my face as innocent as possible. This is what I had been gunning for. If I could make our jonin-sensei fed up with D ranks, well then I'd never have to worry about them again. Besides the infighting _had_ managed to bring together the team. (More Naruto and Sasuke then Sasuke and I, but I fuck it, I had achieved the impossible.) Ever since the bell test, we weren't exactly friendly all the time, but it turns out all of us could work together really well. Sasuke was actually willing to listen to my plans, which shocked me, and Naruto was willing to follow my lead even if that meant working with Sasuke. And like I said, the in fighting had managed to finally close the gap between Naruto and Sasuke (I think I managed to annoy Sasuke more then Naruto).

Kakashi lied through his teeth. "I have every bit of confidence in my cute genin team." Hm, if I started wearing a mask to make lying easier, would that come across as suspicious? 'Probably.' I thought glumly.

"Are you…positive?" he asked again. Our missions were getting slightly infamous. Naruto and Sasuke straightened up and looked determined. I tried to match them but yawned. Sasuke shot me a glare.

"Ojii-san give me a good one! I want a _real mission_. Let's go save a princess!" Naruto, I was proud to say, had improved his indoor voice. Shisui had given me tips on how to help, in-between his lengthy missions, and it was really helping further my ADHD suspicion. The tips were vaguely similar to tips school-age AHDH children were given in my past life that Shisui had stumbled upon on his own.

"Do you think there are more people like you around?" I asked Naruto absentmindedly. Everyone stared at me. I blinked. I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation at all, but still the question stood… "Yea, I guess it was a stupid question. Of course there are. Probably hundreds in the academy alone." Everyone stared harder but I ignored them. My dream was to retire peacefully, but one of my short term goals was to rediscover adderal in this world. (Maybe the Nara research on solider pills would be some help.)

The hokage didn't look any more confident in our abilities, but before he could say something, a drunk man walked out from a side room. "This my escort team then? They look like brats."

"And you look drunk before 10 AM. Funny how appearances are deceiving sometimes." Naruto and Sasuke both smirked at my clap-back, but I could hear Kakashi face palm. Snatching up the mission scroll he said loudly over the Hokage's objections:

"Right, meet all of you at the gate tomorrow. 9 AM."

"12" Haggled Naruto. Sasuke Hnged in agreement. I shrugged. I wasn't arriving before 11 at the earliest so noon would work for me.

"Deal" our sensei agreed. As everyone went to split up I called out for the two to wait.

"We ought to meet up tonight and make sure we have proper supplies. You can both swing by the compound if you want." Sasuke sniffed at me. I sighed, "Or we can both swing by your apartment Sasuke." He Hnnged and Naruto shouted his acceptance (While I had fixed his indoor voice, something about the outdoors and sunlight just set the kid off). "Sasuke, if you see your cousin, ask him to hang around to help double-check our bags."

He Hnnged again, but I didn't catch the meaning of this one. Whatever. I'd planned to look for Shisui anyway today and I would just ask him in advance. While I now got along decently with Sasuke, he could still be a prick when it concerned Shisui. Directly after the massacre, Sasuke had clung to Shisui like a life line. In the weeks following however he had distanced himself from everyone, but especially Shisui. If they didn't share any apartment, Shisui would've been completely cut off from Sasuke's life by now. I wasn't sure clear on all the details, but I understood from Shisui that Sasuke blamed his cousin for being good enough to stop Itachi, and for being injured enough to be unable.

Besides the fact that I didn't know if Shisui actually _was_ good enough to stop Itachi, I also secretly knew the real reason for the killing. Considering this, I found Sasuke's attitude pathetic. (I mean sure he had lost his whole family, but I had literally died once already and wasn't anywhere near as emo as him. Its all about perspective I guess. And coping. I think I cope pretty well, but I'm also a little bit of an an asshole so what do I know?).

It took me nearly an hour to find Shisui. Just when I was about to give up, I felt his chakra signature from behind me. He plopped his crossed arms on my head and leaned on me like a post.

"Brat! I've been looking everywhere for you." I looked up at him as best I could, a skeptical look on my face. "No really! I have a week long mission break! Starting this morning. Couldn't find you anywhere." I squirmed, freeing myself from under his arms (He had taken to leaning on me every chance he could get ever since his last growth spurt and while I didn't normally mind at the compound or in the woods, I was _not_ going to set that precedent in public for someone like sensei or Naruto to see and copy) and turned my whole body to face him.

"Excellent timing. I'm hungry. Buy me food." I grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the street towards an Akimichi restaurant that I favored.

He laughed and let me lead him, chattering away about his day and how glad he was to have a vacation finally (I silently agreed. The past few months I had hardly seen him for more then a day or two in a row. I had contented myself with them practice and meeting up with Sakura to practice our medical ninjutsu) Shisui didn't shut up till we were seated in a booth across from each other. "Yatta, and what have you been up to Kage-chan?"

He was so excitable. He was constantly moving, even seated, he couldn't hold back his energy, so he kept shaking his leg and fidgeting. With his restless energy and my lazy shuffle, I could at least understand why the pair of us got stared at when we were in the village together. His face was just so alight with energy, that one could almost completely ignore the slight scar that went across his face, right over his eye. Still, I just smiled at my best friend, "I have a mission tomorrow. I'll probably end up not being here for your whole vacation."

He deflated, pouting comically at me, before bouncing back again; "A mission outside the village? Where to and what are you doing?"

'That was a good question.' We hadn't exactly got a mission debriefing (or if we had, I wasn't paying attention) so I supposed I couldn't find out until we met at the gate tomorrow. I shrugged at Shisui in answer and moved to start eating. (there was no prompter service then an Akimichi staffed restaurant.)

He sweat dropped. "Do you know how long it is? Where it is? What kind of supplies you'll need to pack?" His voice was serious but his face was still teasing.I mean it was only a C rank. We were probably escorting that drunk guy.

I said as much aloud. Shisui snickered but let it go for a little bit. We chatted about nothing for a little bit longer before Shisui couldn't hold it in anymore and jumped up and grabbing my arm and tugging me upright. I started, looking at him agasht before turning back to my still half full plate— and his empty platter. (He ate so much and so quickly I wasn't sure how he wasn't fat by now. Must be all the running) He rolled his eyes at me, tossed some money on the table and dragged me out of the restaurant. I resisted only halfheartedly. (I was already basically full, but it was the principle of the matter. Don't separate me from food)

It wasn't till we had been walking for near 20 minutes and I was throughly lost before I bothered to ask Shisui where we were going. "Ah you'll see, we're already here." Quick grin at me before he moved forward and banged on an apartment door.

"Do you even know who lives here or are we just bothering some strange person?" I demanded to know.

"I resent being called strange." Called Kakashi from behind me. If it wasn't too much effort, I probably would've jumped. Shisui did. "Ma, Shisui-san what are you doing with my cute little genin?" Kakashi kept his face neutral but Shisui laughed and let go of my hand to rub his against the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah guessing Kage-chan hasnt told you?" At Kakashi's flat look, he continued, "No, she probably wouldn't" (Of course I wouldnt. I was kind of miffed that Shisui was letting Kakashi know anything right now.) "This is my sparring partner!"

Kakashi actually froze before squinting at me with one eye. "This little shrimp… Who almost finds the effort of breathing to be too much work… is your partner that you leave headquarters to spar with." Shisui had the grace to look embarrassed. Well, that just wouldn't do.

"I find dying from not breathing to be more bothersome then the act of breathing itself." I informed sensei. "Besides, Shisui doesn't need to practice with me, _I_ make him practice with _him_." Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow and looked ready to say something but Shisui interrupted:

"Ah no it's fine Taicho, if you let her get to you, this'll go on for hours. I'm really here to find out about the mission parameters for your team tomorrow. Kage-chan, and I'm guessing my cousin as well, have no idea what to bring along." Kakashi eyed him for a second before reaching into one of his many pockets and tossed Shisui the mission scroll. While Shisui fumbled it, Sensei crouched next to me, and met my level gaze.

"We're going to have a team discussion about hiding ability levels. Before we leave the village we should know what each person is capable of; I expect all three of you to be honest." I shrugged. I had expected I wouldn't be able to hide my speed forever, after all I had taken my weights off for the bell test in anticipation. Besides, in order to work effectively as a team, we had to know each others abilities. Although, I might keep the healing a secret as it changed my position within the team hierarchy and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to heal stuff. Standing up again, Kakashi reached up for the scroll Shisui passed him and spoke again. "Meet you at the gates at 9 tomorrow."

"12" I reminded him urgently, already seeing through his plan. Shisui smacked the back of my head.

"You cant be late to your first C rank Kage-chan." Turning to Sensei, he said, "Don't worry she'll be there on time." Kakashi's answering smile was evil. I scowled at him. This was evil. Pure evil.

~linebreak~

I spent the rest of the evening with Shisui, relaxing in the peace of Konoha. We didn't do any strenuous training, just walked around the village and caught up after not seeing each other for so long. Shisui was interested in hearing how far I had progressed my Medical ninjutsu and about my teammates. I filled him in eagerly about all my progress with Sakura, explained how Sasuke and I had introduced Naruto to a different form of taijutsu then his current brawler form, and let him know about my most recent D-rank mishap. Eventually, I got back on the topic of Naruto, still frustrated at how much extra work Sasuke and I were having to do to bring the kid up to speed.

"It's like the instructors didn't even try. Some of the things we're showing him are from 2nd and 3rd year." I complained. It was true. "Thankfully, he's a quick study and Sasuke doesn't mind doing all the taijutsu stuff, so I just focus on all the information that he somehow managed to pass without learning. I've been showing him this stuff for a while, but I'm just now realizing that there are glaring gaps in his education. Did you know he had no idea what chakra _is?_ Or what the point of a chakra control exercise is? And it's not like he just forgot. Naruto is actually fairly intelligent, probably more so then the average genin. I don't get it. It's like the instructors weren't even trying to prepare him to survive!" I burst out the last part angrily, in a very out of character rant for me. Shisui merely hummed. Turning to face him I narrowed my gazer a moment, before shrugging.

'I guess Shisui knows about demon boy too…' Information was what ninja traded in and it was always important to know what others were informed on. And this was one thing Shisui didn't seem to be telling.

~line break~

Packing for missions were a pain in the ass. Even with Shisui and mom overlooking my packing, there was still something to be said about the art of proper packing procedure. You never wanted to be unprepared on a mission, but you also didn't want to take to much and be hundred with what you had to carry. I'd tried to opt for the 'less is more' strategy, (3 outfits, a bed roll, a mess kit, bandages and antibiotics, a set of kunai and shuriken to replenish my packs if needed, a pill case filled with some of the more useful Nara researched pills, and about a weeks worth of standard issue Akimichi ration bars) I'd made liberal use of the two available sealing scrolls that we not in use in the house and my pack was light, neatly organized, and easy to carry.

Mom and Shisui disagreed. They'd let me pack in silence on my own to see what I would choose on my own and then, _only after finishing packing everything_ had made me take it all apart and start over. Along with my items, I now had, an extra two sets of clothes (for a week and a half long mission, I found this excessive), a full medical kit, a standard set of Konoha antidotes, a detailed map and and even more detailed guidebook of the flora, fauna, and animal life of the region, a _tent_ (which took up a whole sealing scroll, thus making my bag even heavier), a set of waterproof matches (my teammate was an Uchiha who could do fire jutsu, and even if he wasn't, I could use a kunai and a rock to make a fire), a candle (my night vision was excellent; there was literally no need for me to carry a candle), an excess of ration bars that made me seem worse then a doomsday prepper, and a deck of cards.

The only addition I could get behind was the pack of cards; It was probably going to be a boring mission after all, and this could help kill time. With that thought in mind, I grabbed a random book off my shelf as well. A quick jaunt over to Naruto's found him packing with Iruka-sensei, and I sullenly sent off Shisui to deal with his cousin alone, still annoyed at the extra weight I would now need to lug around in my pack. He stopped me however and pulled out a pack of new senbon.

"I know how you feel about kunai, so this might be something you want to look into. Anyway" He rubbed his head against his neck, forever awkward('ly adorable' I sighed to myself) " I'll see you tomorrow morning at the gates!"

I waved him off and studied the pack of senbon. Considering my unfortunate demise in past life, blades with blood on them could freak me out so this was a viable alternative. When I got home I tossed them on the top of my pack as well, and reluctantly grabbed a medical text to include on the trip. Senbon required extensive knowledge of the body, which I already had in spades, but also precise and accurate throws, so studying wouldn't hurt, it would just be a pain. 'Bothersome'

~Line break~

'The most horrible thing about this new life' I thought idly, ' is all the walking. I would kill for a horse. Or like a bike. Shit, can I invent a bike? Is that already a thing here?' We had been walking for 3 days out of a total of 4 to reach out destination and I was both bored out of my mind and sick of walking. At least the first day, we'd had steady conversation from Naruto's unending reserves of energy. The Uchiha grunted in all the right places and the bridge builder complained enough that we'd had what I considered a full blown discussion. It had tapered off to the dull silence and monotonous journey I was now suffering through on day 3.

Kakashi (thank god finally some different conversation) spoke up just when I thought I might kill myself and try for another reincarnation. "Now team… I think its important to have a measure of your skills; why don't we go over abilities, overall strengths and weaknesses, and anything you think the team needs to know."

Hmm I had been expecting this before we left Konoha, but Kakashi had shown up late (of course)and we'd left without any kind of discussion. Still, as a person who'd really like to survive, I figured the best thing I could do was be honest about my abilities. As someone that would be expected to make plans and strategies, the more I knew about my teammates abilities, the better the planning would go. It was only fair to be honest in return.

As such I surprised everyone by speaking first. " Ano, my abilities are my clans shadow jutsu, my speed, and my intelligence. My strengths include back up and team support. I am not a melee fighter and am overall better at coming up with plans and strategies." Here I eyed Naruto and Sasuke, still walking alongside me"that's kind of my families thing, so if I give a plan, its probably a good idea to at least here it out." Kakashi gave a hm of agreement, "I'm also very quick and have very good stamina. In terms of overall speed, I am at a high chunin, low jonin level."

This got humoring raised eyebrows from Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tazuna but I shrugged it off. Dad had told me that the most dangerous thing you could do when planning was to overestimate yourself— if anything I was underestimating myself. "My strength in my family jutsu is in the immobilizing technique, which leads to my weaknesses; I can do the shadow capture, but I am no where near proficient in the ability like the rest of my immediate family." Dad and Shika basically relied on just the shadow capture, while I used something akin to what I thought of as octopus tentacles. I could literally reach out with the shadows and grab people. However, tangible shadows could be cut and smacked back, Hence the speed aspect. I needed to be quick to be able to both change positions and to launch numerous shadows at once to maximize my ability.

I continued, "My weaknesses also include low chakra capacity, which I try to compensate for with high chakra control. After training my chakra control, I can confidently say I am within 95% utilization and conversion rate of chakra control. I also am not very physically strong, but speed I try to make up for that with speed. I may not hit hard, but if I hit before you're guards up, it hurts all the same." Here I paused. I was on the fence about whether or not to bring up my medical ninjutsu, and wasn't quite sure I was even good enough to bring it up. While I could do little things, it wouldn't make too big of a difference in an emergency. Still… More practice dummies…

"I also can do _minimal_ " I stressed the word and repeated it, " _minimal_ medical ninjutsu. So don't try to die, cause thats more work for me to fix."

I was met with silence. Even the bridge builder seems shocked by my minispeech. Finally Naruto broke the silence. "Wow, Kage-chan, I didn't know you could do so much. You didn't seem like you could in the academy, dattebayo." I shrugged.

"If they knew I could do a lot, they would've given me more work. I didn't want to bother with that." Kakashi coughed, but I was sure he was holding back a laugh. I let myself grin."But I told you guys because teammates should be able to trust each other right? And if you don't know what I can do, then how can you expect to rely on me?" Naruto gave a bright grin and Sasuke gave a quiet (but affirmative) Hng.

Naruto went next, but I was pretty steady on his abilities already. He tried to say he had no weaknesses, but I frowned at him until he relented and mentioned his lack of planning, loudness, and lack of ninjutsu. It wasn't all of his shortcomings, but it was better then nothing. Sasuke was even better, listing out numerous fire jutsu, his taijustu ability including the Uchiha style learned from his cousin, his wire techniques, and his genjutsu prowess. Apparently he was a quick study, even without yet having the sharingan. He shocked me when he announced one of his weakness to be his slightly "Standoffish nature". I literally applauded, ignoring Naruto's guffaw and Sensei's flat stare.

With all of our pieces said, I turned to sensei expectantly. Naruto and Sasuke joined me and Sensei just sighed. "If you're ever making plans and you need someone to do something, just assume I can do it alright?" He eye smiled at us but I frowned; that was no way to treat an unknown. An Unknown shouldn't be used as a catchall-jack of all trades. I met sensei's persistent smile and decided to shrug it off for now. We'd find out more about his ability the more we trained with him anyway.

Tazuna was curious despite himself (Few civilians ever found themselves in an opportunity to hear about ninja's abilities) and focused more on asking us questions for the next few hours, interested in what exactly our skills entailed. I forgot sometimes that civilians wouldn't have any idea what terms like genjutsu and immobilization technique would mean. Naruto and Sasuke jumped eagerly in, even the stoic Uchiha was eager to brag about his techniques. Eventually however, the conversation turned back towards me:

"What do you do, girly?" I shrugged.

"Family stuff. Just what my dad's managed to teach me."

"What does the immobilization technique do exactly?" queried Sasuke stiffly. "I've only ever heard of the capture technique…" Naruto nodded along eagerly and I could tell Sensei was paying attention even with his book open.

I rewarded his using a full sentence with a sentence or two of my own. "The capture is one of the bases for our techniques. It freezes your target in place. However, it can be very hard to stop someone form just moving and is very hard to maintain." I explained for Naruto and Tazuna's benefit. "The next step is one of two different routes you can take from the capture, depending on what suits you. You can move onto the shadow mimic; instead of just freezing them in place, their movement mimic yours, like a shadow. This is easier to maintain control over, harder for an enemy to break out of and can be used on higher level opponents then your current skill level to great effect, but is more chakra intensive and slower. The other route you can take, the one I've chosen to go down, is the immobilization. I can use shadows like extra limbs, pulling from whatever shadows is near you to grab you and hold you in place. It effectively freezes the limb I'm holding."

"COOOOOOOOL" Naruto squealed. Sasuke frowned.

"Isn't that inherently better then the capture or the mimic? You're not stuck in one place and arn't limited by chakra with this technique."  
I nodded my head in acknowledgment at Sasuke while Naruto pointed and jumped up and down in excitement at the point." Well the capture is a valuable family technique so everyone can do it. And the immobilization and mimic are just the first set of techniques we've been taught for each path. There are more we haven't yet been shown. But still, the immobilization has its perks for sure. It suits someone like me much better then the mimic route. For example, as someone who's very tiny, I don't have very much personal shadow to work with, limiting my range." Kakashi nodded, not even pretending to be interested in his book anymore. "However, there are many drawbacks to the immobilization form of the technique. Imagine for example that I froze your left arm. What would you do?" Everyone paused, so I explained, "Remember my shadows are physical, so they can be cut, physically blocked…"

"So if my left arm was caught… I would just cut the strand of shadow holding my left arm with my right arm…" Sasuke mulled it over while I nodded.

"Exactly. However, the quicker you move, the less chance your opponent has to capitalize on your attacks weak points. And if I can stop you for even a moment, it gives me a second to maybe throw some shuriken at you. Or to grab you in a shadow capture when your distracted. Maybe I can move quickly enough to get in range and use another shadow tendril on a different limb or try a less chakra intensive shadow mimic; while I'm not great at them, I can do them, the same way Shika can work with my techniques."

Everyone was quiet for a moment thinking that over while I also contemplated what I had said. It was without a doubt an impressive techniques, and I had tried to tailor my other skills to work within its constraints but saying them out loud made it feel very real. No one had ever laid out the two techniques pit falls for me before. Within the clan, there were many things you were expected to just _get._ Putting together information was just one of them. Lost in my thoughts I stepped over a puddle, still wondering about the weaknesses.

Naruto and Sasuke picked up conversation again, Naruto jealous that Sasuke and I had cool family techniques, while Sasuke was… was he comforting Naruto about not having a family? I mean sure he was callous about it but he didn't have to say anything to him so it was kind of nice that Emo kid was being supportive—

All of us whipped around as the puddle behind us burst outwards, revealing two ninja covered in chains, which one of them whipped towards us and then Kakashi was there, and the everything was moving fast but I watched Kakashi get crushed to pieces, but no that was a log, and Sasuke was moving to subdue the other ninja, while I backed up closer to the bridge builder, eyeing our surroundings. (Of course it was obvious in hindsight that there shouldn't be a puddle in the middle for the road when it hadn't rained in days, but hindsight was a bitch.)

And then just like that it was over. Sasuke had subdued the two, while Kakashi revealed himself from the woods. Naruto was quiet, eyeing a scratch on his hand he had received in the fight. I guess he hadn't faced any real action before, so this was eyeopening for him. I could admit that I had at least seen Itachi, and as frightful as that situation was, there were very few things that I could claim scared me after that ('just bloody knives but thats no big deal not like you're a ninja or anything' my stupidly sarcastic brain supplied).

After a brief interlude where Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi talked while I watched Tazuna, Sensei pulled aside Tazuna to ask him a question. He informed us that he had lied and told us about the real situation and suddenly we had a completely different mission parameters. He pleased with us to help him for his countries sake. Kakashi looked to us.

"Of course we'll continue on, Dattebayo!"

Sasuke Hnnged and smirked, "We're this far already, we might as well."

"Just like that? Absolutely not." Everyone stared at me, Tazuna looking shocked, but resigned. Kakashi frowned (I think) and Naruto began to shout at me. I raised my hand in resignation, "Listen, I get it out I'm being outvoted, and I'll happily continue on the mission; We all need experience and this is for a good cause so I can see why you want to continue, but before you blindly agree to continuing on a mission, recognize that two agreed" I pointed to Sasuke and Naruto, "before even asking me if I was packed for an extended mission. We can't just leave him at the bridge. He'd be dead before nightfall. Which means we need to stay till completion which is what? Another 2 weeks? A month?" Tazuna nodded uncomfortably. "We're possibly facing chunin and higher level missing nin, a drug lord running a country from the shadows, and we may not even have enough supplies of food to last."

Here Tazuna tried to speak up, probably to offer hospitably, but I cut him off as well. "You just got finished telling us that your country is in the middle of an economic recession. Food is probably scarce, and while I am sure that you would try, I'm not quite sure you realize _how much food_ you'd need to supply. I eat less food then everyone here and after a day of difficult training, I require about 20,000 calories a day. My teammates are probably about 25,000-30,000 with sensei ranging anywhere from what? 35,000 to 45,000 a day?" He nodded. "Thats about _two and a half times_ what a civilian requires. Sure we can sustain on less, but less food means less concentration, less power, overall stunted ability. Considering that even if we avoid training, cutting drastically down on our required intake, before fighting anyone of a high level, say high chunin, to jonin level, we'd need a decent amount of food or energy. If you couldn't afford the mission, you can't afford to feed us for an extended amount of time, especially because we can't avoid training for weeks at a time and still be fit to fight in case of trouble."

I finished my lecture slightly out of breath. Naruto looked lost but seemed to realize that whatever I was saying held some truth. Sasuke seemed to understand and seemed pained, but agreed with me. Kakashi kept up his frown but also seemed to agree because he didn't argue with me.

"With that said, I'd appreciate if we discussed the pros and cons next time. Maybe tossed out what supplies we have available, just like we spoke about what skills we had at our disposal earlier. Now, thanks to my mom's neuroses, I have enough ration bars to feed all of us comfortably for about a month, considering that half of one each will do us three fine and one bar will sort Kakashi—"

"EHHH? So we can make it?" Naruto looked annoyed, "Why didn't you just say so, dattebayo?"

I frowned at him. "You both made a decision without checking supplies or thinking about consequences. I was not going to blindly agree. This is called a learning experience Naruto. Next time, if something like this happens again, hopefully we all stop and think it through before just saying yes." Kakashi ruffled my hair.

"Kage-chan is right. Those were all valid points. It's good that she over packed in this case" I scowled. (I was never going to tell mom or Shisui that they were right) "And I admit that it's been awhile that I've had to factor in genin who wouldn't have packed for food in this case. Most genin and chunin wouldn't actually have bothered to bring as much as Kage has." He admitted. "Still, now that Kage-chan agrees" He paused to look at me for affirmation, which I gave with a sharp nod of my head, "We'll continue on with the mission. Tazuna-san, I'm sure you can understand why we were hesitant?"

Tazuna nodded his head. "I understand." he replied gruffly. "Just…Thank you for continuing. I appreciate this. My whole country will appreciate this…"

"Maa, well let's camp for the night; we'll be near enough Tazuna's home by tomorrow."


	9. Chapter 9

**Right** **, so with this chapter, I am now caught up to what I** **'** **ve written before hand. I** **'** **ll now be posting on** **this story** **once a week, (maybe more often when I** **can't** **sop myself from writing) but for now expect Friday** **evenings** **, Saturday** **mornings to have a chapter. The chapters will also probably be longer now as I'm giving myself more time to write them.**

 **As always, let me know what you think! Personally I'm loving the way the team interactions are turning out because even though I hate the original Sasuke as a character, for some reason he's turning out so reasonable and nice with Kage involved. Still, if it seems way to ooc let me know and I can review it!**

~Line break~

Midmorning the next day, things got strange. Naruto got very tense and twitchy which Sasuke mocked him for. (more like teased. Honestly they could lie to themselves all they wanted but they were like best friends at this point, feeding off each other for motivation and tension relief. It was so adorable).

Maybe Naruto was just tense at the idea of higher ranking ninja attacking us, but maybe he was actually sensing something. While I would make a good infiltration specialist with my families chakra being near un-sensible, I was still only a decent sensor. Plenty of people (read: anyone that was trying to be undetected) would slip past me. So Naruto's tension rubbed off on me. (Maybe he was noticing something I wasn't?) Kakashi stayed quiet and seemed relaxed, walking and reading his book slightly ahead of us, so maybe not.

Sasuke on the other hand had had enough when Naruto flung a kunai right into the woods to our right. "Calm down, dobe!" he hissed at Naruto.

"I heard something! There was something over there!" Kakashi walked forward, one hand still in his pocket, the other holding his book in front of him. Nudging the bush out of the way with his foot, we all saw a rabbit scared still with the kunai right over its head.

"Poor bunny…" I said out loud before blushing at having said it slightly louder then expected.

Tazuna laughed from beside me but Naruto complained again "I heard something." Sasuke started lecturing Naruto on paying attention while I looked on amused.

"GET DOWN." The sudden command barked from Sensei made Naruto freeze so Sasuke grabbed his head and shoved him down while I grabbed Tazuna and did the same.

A giant sword swung over head, lodging itself deeply into one of the trees in front of us (That's fucking massive. Like total overkill. It's a GIANT FUCKING SWORD.) More quickly then I could follow, which was quite fast considering I practiced with Shisui no Shunshin, someone moved to stand on the hilt of the sword.

Tall and in a completely ridiculous outfit that looked rather impratical, was a man I didn't recognize but was probably from cannon. With my luck, and more importantly team 7's, I just didn't know of this story line. ('Fuuuuuccccckkkkk'). The weird swordsman's voice was deep and he sounded like he was holding back a smirk when he spoke. "Sharingan Kakashi, eh? And some brats? Hand over the old man. I might even let you all go alive."

Sasuke stiffened at the mention of the sharingan. Naruto looked ready to launch himself at the guy and I stood wary. I silently released all the chakra from my new weights, freeing myself of the oppressive load. (After the issue with the anbu, I had realized how much time was wasted removing them and begged for chakra activated ones as a birthday gift.) I shifted my stance closer to Tazuna, but more importantly closer to the tree line, where I had shadows to work with. It was bright enough that the shadows didn't extend far into the path and the middle of the path was bright and shadow free. Still at the ready, I pulled out my lucky kunai.

"Zabuza Momichi, missing nin of Hidden Village of the Mist. Too bad, but our mission is to _protect_ this old guy." Tazuna was too scared to react to the insult. "We cant hand him over so why don't you just leave us be?" Zabuza let out a deep laugh, that was honestly more then a little creepy. Naruto stepped forward, readying himself to attack Zabuza.

Sasuke had likewise readied himself, kunai in hand, his back to Tazuna, watching the swordsman for danger. Naruto, however, was waved back by Kakashi, who spoke up. "Standard protection formation guys. Protect the bridge builder. I'll take care of this guy. Stay back. He's on a whole different level." He raised one hand to his forehead protector, pulling it up so that his left eye was visible.

I didn't react, knowing what was underneath from both my old life and my new, but both Sasuke and Naruto stiffened. Tazuna remained frozen with fear. Zabuza laughed again.

"So I get to see the Sharingan in action, eh? A cheap party trick wont save you copy ninja." He moved forward, quickly removing his sword from the tree and launching himself at Kakashi all in one motion. 'Fast…'

Naruto spoke up. "What is a sharingan?"

I stayed quiet focusing on our surrounding, for once not slouching or being lazy. My whole body was at attention and my muscles were tensed but loose, ready for action. Sasuke spoke up while Kakashi and Zabuza disengaged. "It's a doujutsu. A jutsu that relies on the eyes. It can see through almost any taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu. It can also see though the pattern of attacks and it is one of the most powerful doujutsu to have in all of the elemental nations. And that's just the start of it…" Naruto looked awed, while Sasuke looked wary at the whole situation. (If this world had TV's he'd probably be looking around and asking "Have I been punkd?")

Zabuza and Kakashi eyed each other while Zabuza added on to Sasuke's explanation. "That's right kid. But thats not all. The eyes can be used to analyze an opponents technique and copy it to the smaller detail. _Immediately_. No waiting. Imagine being in a battle, using techniques you've worked for years to obtain and master, when out from the woodworks appears this ninja, who copies you and is flinging back your life work after seeing you use it once… And thats how you get the copy ninja… who knows over a thousand techniques from all over the elemental nations."

None of this was new to me, as I had peaked through a (rather outdated) BINGO book, but Sasuke and Naruto were in awed silence at the news. Kakashi ignored the conversation too, using this time to analyze his opponent and figure out a strategy. It made sense to use this time; monologuing wasn't a good trait in ninja, who typically preferred to deal in stealth. Still, if Kakashi knew of Zabuza, that meant this guy was good enough to monologue and still manage to be a badass. He was probably in one of the BINGO books I had flipped through when studying the potential jonin sensei, and I had skipped right over him. Bothersome.

A heavy mist began to form around us, quick becoming into a chakra dampened fog. I could hardly sense my teammates around me through the thick chakra-heavy air, let alone see them. "When I used to be a hunter-nin," Zabuza said conversationally, his voice seeming to come from all around us, "We had a standard order. All below a certain level who met you in combat were to flee on sight." He laughed and it echoed al around us. I could feel the killing intent building and I consciously relaxed my muscles, not allowing them to grow too tight, closing my eyes to better focus on my hearing and chakra sensing. "But people like me were told not to run but to kill you. You were one of the few leaf ninja we ever assigned an S rank to." Sasuke was shaking, no longer holding his kunai straight, while Naruto was frozen in fear. I could sense the motion and the stillness from each of them. 'The killing intent must be too much…' To be honest, it was pretty bad,not as bad as Itachi, but almost so in that it gave off a completely different feeling. If I was being honest, I would have preferred Zabuza to ever facing Itachi again.

Right now I felt like I could die at any moment, the Zabuza was going to attack me at any moment. That I needed to desperately fight for my life. Itachi had been so indifferent and impersonal. As if he was bored of the very idea of killing us, but it was a requirement so he'd get it done. This Killing Intent was something I could fight, something savage, primal, and almost tangible, whereas Itachi's killing intent had felt inevitable. I had no hope of surviving fighting Itachi. With that in mind, I wasn't shaking in fear; instead I felt around me with the shadows, getting ready to form a couple tendrils when needed.

"Maybe if you didn't have such little brats with you…" The voice was just as far and close as before but I was fighting my tension. The most logical thing to do if you were aiming to assassinate Tazuna, was to attack him while he was only guarded by three genin. In this mist, us genin had no chance against finding him, launching an attack against him, but if we could hold him for a second, I was sure that Kakashi would be able to stop him from killing us. I twisted my hold on my lucky kunai. The edges were dulled, but the flats of the blade were shiny and polished like a mirror for just this purpose. I watched as best I could in front of me and behind by eyeing the kunai in my peripheral. A sudden strike towards my right, in-between Sasuke and I was stopped by Sensei, who destroyed what turned out to be a water clone.

"Calm down; I will protect you guys with my life." Kakashi-sensei eye smiled at us, breaking some of the tension from the wild killing intent around us. He moved back into the mist, disappearing just as quickly as he came. I could hear fighting around us, everything seeming to echo and have no place. Still, I watched the kunai and my surroundings, brain in overdrive. I would be no good for a direct fight; I'd said it before and I'd say it again: I am not a melee fighter. I was support. Being one of the protectors of Tazuna was the best place I could be right now. Still we needed a back up plan in case something went wrong. ('Contingency plans sucked but they were important for success' One of dad's mottos.)

The fighting continued. In the back of my head, I kept track of time. It had been almost five minutes, but felt like an eternity. A shadow flickered in the mirror of the kunai. I didn't let my body show any reaction, but this time, just as Zabuza went to strike again, this time from behind me, in-between Naruto and Sasuke, I struck blindly with my shadows; there were plenty for me with all the mist around us. I snatched his leg first and when he quickly swiped at it, I already had the arm that wasn't holding his sword captured, Still he freed himself and threw himself back into the mist.

"Eight points from which I can kill you." (Only eight? Well I'll say thanks for small blessings that he only knew of 8. As a doctor, I realized how frail the body is. Literally anything could kill you.) More clashes from within the mist, while Zabuza continued talking. I heard a grunt from Kakashi, who must've been hit. I kept myself steady waiting for another attack. 10 minutes of fighting now. He'd probably have to focus on Sensei now that he knew us three could defend Tazuna well enough to hold him off for sensei.

"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys,heart…" Well coming from a doctor, that was pretty good list of places to strike so maybe there wasn't a small blessing anywhere after all.

Suddenly I felt sensei focus his chakra. I could feel exactly where he was, and then I felt burst it outwards, clearing the mist in an instant. (He probably got sick of not being able to see. As someone with good night vision it was a novel experience that I was not enjoying) Once the mist was gone, we could see two Zabuzas standing in the clearing. Kakashi darted forward and struck the one nearest us. The other launched himself at Kakashi. The Zabuza that Kakashi hit with a kunai in the stomach burst into water and suddenly there was no time to move as Zabuza swung his huge sword as if it were weightless, so quickly. "It's over." He chuckled.

(I don't know what I expected, because I could tell there was no time to move, but when Sensei's body literally split in half I couldn't breathe. What the fuck had I changed in the story line that made Kakashi die. I had to have changed something. I killed my sensei by existing. And now the creepy guy is gonna kill us Oh fuck oh fuck oh—wait)

The two halves of Kakashi burst uselessly into water and from behind Zabuza was Kakashi holding a kunai right to his throat. Twisting Zabuza launched himself at Kakashi, who jumped back, Zabuza following, while they both leapt on the water to the left of the path we'd been walking on before this rude interruption. Zabuza quickly made another water clone, while Kakashi eyed him, his red eye never leaving the true Zabuza. Zabuza made some quick hand seals and then Kakashi was forming the same seals and they were going back and forth, Kakashi copying Zabuza so quickly that it seemed as if he was predicting the future. I concentrated on the fight. While it was super impressive, I was worried. Clearly Zabuza was a water infinity and Kakashi was fighting on top of water which was not the best place to be. However, the psyche of knowing that your techniques might be worth it against someone like Zabuza. Still, I didn't think Kakashi was a water infinity which meant these jutsu were going to be hurting his chakra more then Zabuza's.

Sure enough, a few minutes later (The fight had only been going on for 15 minutes. I felt like it had been hours) Kakashi was trapped in a water prison. Zabuza laughed again.

"For a missing nin, you laugh a lot. You must have a really cheery out look on life to always be looking on the bright side of things." That stopped his laugh but brought the weight of his full attention on me. Sasuke and Naruto were wide eyed at the fact that I chose now to bring out my mouth side but still stood by me, waiting for a plan— waiting _for me_ to think up something. I needed more time. Zabuza was really freaking good and he had a clone free to attack us while still maintaining the water prison. I needed more time to think (Because no contingency plan I had formed quite covered this situation) so another snarky comment was in order.

"I bet the bandages are to hide how much you smile. You hiding a boyish grin under that mask?" He snarled at me. Kakashi spoke up, sounding distorted in the water.

"RUN. That's an order. You guys are no match for him. Take Tazuna and run!" I ignored Kakashi's order.

"That's a stupid idea. Let's leave the plans to me, hm?" The comments helped me concentrate. It was either be scared as shit that my invincible jonin sensei, who'd I'd already witness die a few minutes ago was now really going to die in a water prison, or make stupid comments to relieve my tension.

Zabuza did a double take to Kakashi as if to say, "did your brat really just say that to you?" Kakashi didn't meet his eye, instead shouting again, "I'm serious! Run! You stand no chance against someone like Zabuza. He's from the bloody mist! As a graduation exam, they have to kill a classmate to get over their first kill. Zabuza not only killed his opponent. He killed _ever other student graduating._ 100 other students died by his hand at 11."

I focused on the environment around me. Still plenty of shadows around me to protect Tazuna, and maybe do a little something else? I'd have to use Naruto and Sasuke to free Kakashi while still keeping them safe from the sociopathetic serial killer. "Right" I eyed Zabuza and Kakashi, but lowered my voice so that only Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna could hear me. Raising my kunai to my face, I blocked my lips so that Zabuza and (unfortunately) Kakashi couldn't read them. "The real Zabuza can't move away from the sphere he's holding Kakashi in." I spoke quickly trying to get the two caught up to my still forming internal plan, "The clone, however, has free range to move. We'd never move quick enough to save ourselves, let alone get Tazuna out of here alive if we tried to run. Really, our only chance is to get Sensei free. I am pretty quick. Let me deal with protecting Tazuna and distracting the clone while you two move towards the water. Lets try and do what we did during the bell test. Sasuke, use ninja wire and a senbon from my pack; its light and will probably float. If I can freeze him, hopefully you guys can come up with something to hit him with." Emo boy moved to quickly reach into the top of my pack and pull out some senbon. Zabuza's clone was languidly walking toward us, sword raised up on his shoulder. Tightening my grip on my lucky kunai, I spoke up again, " I can give you maybe 3 seconds." Meaning both my shadow technique but also quite possibly holding back the clone as well.

Zabuza laughed. "What's three seconds going to—" he grunted as I launched myself at him, faster then I had ever moved. All talking ceased for a moment. The second he blocked my kunai, I twisted my body, reaching down, and slashing at his left knee, simultaneously reaching out with my shadow for his right arm. He dodged the shadow and twisted out of the way of my strike, moving to swing his sword at me but I was gone with a quick back handspring, and then with a front handspring I was back, right in his comfort zone, where he seemed to be struggling to utilize his large sword ('It really was too big to be practical.' I was hoping anyway.) This time striking with two shadows at once I stretched for both his legs. He jumped up, which gave a small opening to strike at a tendon in his arm, but then he was swinging with his other arm and I bent back wards almost hitting the floor with my head for how sharp the back bend was. On some instinct I had developed fighting with Shisui, not really knowing why, I threw myself to the side barely dodging the arc of the blade as it tore up the ground where I had once stood.

That had been 5 seconds, a little longer then I had expected I could manage. I rapidly formed hand seals, keeping my eyes on Zabuza, who eyed me, still and ready for my next attack was. But this wasn't for him. I had moved past needing full seals for my shadow tendrils, only needing a quick one handed ram seal to focus. No, I needed a full set of seals to use the shadow capture.

Naruto and Sasuke had launched a barrage of tools at Zabuza, who had flung some back, which Naruto's clone jumped in front of, protecting both of the boys. Within the assortment thrown, Sasuke had slipped in some senbon tied with ninja wire, just like we had done during the bell test. And reaching out carefully, as quickly as I dared, glad for the reprieve the clone was giving me, still curious about my attack, I could feel my shadow traversing the path of the ninja wire shadow. I kept my eyes on the water clone, none the wiser, looking like he was about to start egging me on to hurry up. With timing that I don't think we could repeat if we ever tried this again, Sasuke pulled out a ginormous shuriken and tossed it at Zabuza, making a quick series of hand seals, changing it from one to two windmill shuriken. Zabuza dodged both of them and was still crouched when I hit him with my shadow capture.

He froze and as I was about to shout for someone to do something, that I had captured him (because sometimes it wasn't obvious, if you didn't know what to look for, and this was way to powerful a ninja for me to just idly hold him here) when one of the shuriken burst into smoke reveling a Naruto clone who flung more kunai at the frozen Zabuza, making just enough of a distraction for Sensei to free himself. I released the capture, slumping with sudden exhaustion as the technique after effect hit me because despite being surprised, Zabuza had fought to be free. With that done, I had just spent like 80% of my remaining chakra reserves. I didn't even have a second longer of rest before the clone was on me sending me flying into a tree with a kick. I only had time to let out a small oof, before I was again forming shadow immobilization tendrils, grabbing at clones sword arm as he swung again at the now unprotected Tazuna. (The Tazuna who I had said I'd watch. Fuck me for taking on too many responsibilities.) The short hold was enough for Kakashi to launch himself off the water and to the ground. He made short work destroying the clone, before engaging with Zabuza again. ('20 minutes' I thought, pushing myself to my feet.)

Just as it seemed Kakashi had finally gotten the upper hand, something flew out of the trees hitting Zabuza in the neck. Senbon. (Huh, thats the kind of attack I was looking into. I had literally just read about neck strike zones two nights ago) The missing nin fell over, dead.

"That was… anticlimactic." I announced as everyone stood frozen eying the body.

"Indeed." A masked anbu came out from the trees where the senbon had flown from. " I have been searching for this missing nin for months. Thank you for your help, but this is now work for the hidden mist."

"Wait wait whats going on?!" Naruto cried out. I could see Sasuke's small nod showing he was also confused. Kakashi reached down checking Zabuza's pulse, before moving back and letting the anbu grab the body and throw it over his shoulder. (What a tiny anbu. Like Shisui and Itachi must've been). I let Kakashi explain. He was (probably) in Anbu at one point anyway if my guess was right so he was intimately (probably) familiar with the procedures performed by hidden villages to their dead.

Naruto only had a few minutes to be horrified, giving the hunter nin time to completely evacuate the body before Kakashi collapsed exhausted. That set Naruto off again. He was worried until I jumped in and explained to both Sasuke and Naruto (and Tazuna because he was a nosy old man) that all the techniques Kakashi had been copying and using recklessly were B rank or higher. (Besides I was pretty sure that the sharingan bleed out his chakra too, but I wasn't supposed to know that so I kept quiet.)

"How far are we from your home, Tazuna-san?" Sasuke asked eyeing our surroundings.

It turned out not far. Two of Naruto's clones carried Kakashi while Sasuke and Tazuna led the way to the small, isolated, home. I held up the rear, sensing the woods around me as we moved, paranoid. I hadn't noticed the anbu in wait at all, but I suppose that wasn't unexpected considering I was fighting and not sensing my surroundings. Besides, they had probably been concealing their chakra anyway. (Shisui did it on habit now, only flaring it when he was right behind me to scare me) Still, when we reached the door of the home, I paused before letting us go inside.

"Naruto, you don't sense anything right?" He had noticed Zabuza when I hadn't, and I was pretty sure Kakashi hadn't either. Call it a gut feeling, or untapped sensing ability, but I was gonna rely on Naruto in case. This might be something we'd have to train our teammate on. Good sensors were born and then made, not just made.

"No, Dattebayo!" Good, that was one less worry.

"Alright, I know you're both tired, and we're all a little worse for wear, but Naruto you're really good with traps right?" I remember more then a few ingenious pranks from the academy. Not waiting for a real answer, I let them in on my thoughts, "Can you and Sasuke check the perimeter and lay a couple traps to let us know if anyone comes within 2 kilometers of here? Sasuke, I'd like if you watched out for Naruto; if he's laying traps, he won't be aware of his surroundings. He'd need you to watch his back." Both boys paused then nodded in agreement. I motioned to the two clones carrying Kakashi. "You two are with me. I need to see if there's anything I can heal on Sensei." The clones shouted in agreement. Tazuna didn't seem to surprised at me taking charge considering he'd seen me do it before, but the civilian women was eyeing me, this tiny, petite girl, order around everyone like it was no big deal.

(They weren't even orders, just suggestions. Naruto and Sasuke could both have said no, but why would they? The plan made sense. As long as I explained my reasoning, people usually would go along with what I said. I'd been shocked to find even Sasuke was reasonable. And his discovering the team wasn't useless but actually really good when we planned our stuff out? He was turning out to be a really good midrange fighter who didn't mind using my strategies. It was bizarre.)

"I can show you a room for your teacher. My name is Tsunami, and Tazuna, the man you've been escorting is my father." I nodded in acknowledgment, having overheard the two greet each other while I spoke to my team.

"I'm Kage." I followed the women inside and up a set of stairs. "The orange guy is Naruto, and the blue guy is Sasuke. Our sensei's name is Kakashi."

She gave a slight nod and began to ask her father what had happened. I stayed quiet, making a silent check list in my head for what needed to be done. I'd get Sensei settled first before anything else, then do a quick scan of the house and make sure that there were no hidden surprises waiting to jump out. Then I'd do a quick medical check on sensei and see if there was anything I could heal, but I suspected not; it was most likely chakra exhaustion ailing him. After that, Naruto and Sasuke would probably be back. All of us would need a ration bar each and I could check the two for injuries. Then we could clean up, rest up and take shifts sleeping. Any further plans would need to wait till Kakashi woke up, or at the very earliest tomorrow morning after a good nights sleep.

While it was just after midday, (The whole fight and walk to Tazuna's was just an hour) I was too tired to think about staying up the rest of the day. We put down Kakashi in a small guest room on a futon. I let Kakashi and the two clones there. I ran a cursory scan of the house, checking rooms and cupboards, my chakra senses stretched and searching the house. I did all this on my own, letting Tazuna get settled and Tsunami go back to whatever she'd been doing. Besides the three adults in the house, I also noted one other chakra signature. It was very tiny and almost definitely civilian, but just in case I needed to ask. I meandered to where I'd started my search moving silently to the kitchen, "Is there anyone else living here?"

Tsunami jumped from where she was preparing dinner, not having noticed me appear in the kitchen because of my unconsciously quiet moments. (I'd probably never get used to civilians and their lack of awareness in this new life.) "I have a son, Inari, who lives here as well." I nodded, glad that there was nothing suspicious about the home.

I hurried back upstairs, checking on Kakashi. A quick scan led me to removing his vest and his pack with the help of the clones. I then let them disperse after they helped me remove, sensei's shirt to see the full damage. (I left the mask alone. I'd seen his face in my past life, and while attractive, it felt creepily like taking advantage of Sensei's trust to even think about lifting the mask) I found myself eyeing dark, ugly bruise on his side gratefully. I was lucky that his ribs weren't broken, just slightly cracked. I healed the bruises and injected some chakra to speed up bone regeneration in the slight fractures, the most I could do at the moment. They'd probably be healed within a week with the surge of chakra I'd injected. His lack of chakra, however, wasn't something I could do anything about, even if I wanted to; I was in the dredges of my reserves. It was about this time that Sasuke and Naruto returned, surprised to find me in a room with a shirtless sensei. Sasuke was eyeing the room suspiciously.

"I did a quick scan of the house and it was fine. You're more then welcome to give it a check though, just in case." He nodded perfunctory. I motioned to Sensei and gave them the prognosis. "It'll probably be a day or two before he wakes. His reserves are bone dry, even worse then mine, but I have smaller reserves, so I'll be ready to go sooner. Here," I reached towards my pack and pulled out some bars. Leaving one by Sensei's side, in case he did wake up, I tossed the other two to the boys. " A full one each, as we're all pretty spent after that fight. Are either of you hurt? I wanna heal you up before you get stiff."

Naruto shook his head but Sasuke spoke up, "Naruto and I both got a couple scratches from the shuriken, but we're over all fine." I nodded motioning for one of them to come forward. Sasuke shoved Naruto, who scowled but moved forward. I began tugging his jacket off, before he got the idea and took it off himself. There wasn't much in the way of injuries, but I was so tired that even healing scratches was enough to make me bleary eyed. Sasuke was even less injured thanks to Naruto's clones running interference, so his scratches were quickly healed up as well. Before I went to go shower and get ready to knock out, I turned to look at the boys, suddenly nervous and more then a little paranoid.

"Am I forgetting anything?" I explained my mental checklist to them and Sasuke shook his head.

"I'll do another scan of the house, just in case. The traps we laid down are loud but stealthy; Dobe is good at traps…" Naruto beamed and Sasuke gave a slight smile. "I can also do first watch, Naruto has stupid stamina and will probably be fine in a few hours for second watch. Then you can do third. Hopefully Sensei will wake up early, but even if he doesn't, mission priority is Tazuna, which is what we're taking care of right now. Theres nothing else we can do." I nodded, glad that he had broken it down for me like that. I was too tired to think. I was also too tired to waste time not sleeping. I ate my ration bar in the shower, hardly able to go through the motions of washing in my exhausted state. (Even soggy, Akimichi ration bars were tasty. I had to give Auntie a nice gift for making this batch special for me). Getting out of the shower and getting dressed hurt. My whole body was sore from the strain of fighting earlier. I rarely fought without weights and moving that quick hurt my joints in ways I hadn't expected. I also had a tightness in my chest (Probably a fucked up rib from the kick I'd received but self healing was really fucking hard so I'd deal with that later) and I was relieved to finally lay down in a futon, just a few feet from the boys and sensei.

"Don't forget to wake me for my shift." I reminded. That was the last thing I remembered before I blissfully knocked out.


	10. Chapter 10

So I know I promised a longer chapter, but my laptop is broken and the computer I'm using has a shitty keyboard, so this is mostly what I've already written. If you notice any glaring errors, please point them out to me as some of the keys were sticky. (especially the y and s keys for some unknown reason...) Should have my laptop back sometime this week, so the final chapter of the wave arc will be posted next Friday night/ Saturday morning!

As always, please let me know what you think in a review or message, and enjoy :)

~line break~

When I woke the next morning after a glorious 13 hours of sleep, I had no interest in actually getting out of bed. In my family, the best way to spend a day—other then napping— was laying in a comfortable spot, relaxing, imitating a nap. So when I woke up, I planned on doing exactly that. To be completely honest, all thoughts of being on a mission or possible retaliation were completely out of my mind. I sighed contentedly, snuggling deeper into the thick blanket, grateful for the warmth in the chill of Wave Country. Hearing movement from a ways off, woke me up a little more, and slowly the previous day came back to me. I made no motion to remove myself form bed, however, instead processing all the information.

There were plenty of things that as a team we could improve on. There were also, unfortunately plenty of things that I personally had screwed up on and would need to fix. After mulling this over, I finally got up to greet the day. I chose to take another shower (no way had I gotten rid of all the grime in my stupor yesterday) and dressed quickly in one of the spare outfits I had packed. I left my hair out of its pony tail while it dried, forgoing the lavender oil I normally rubbed in it for the sake of anonymity. Snatching up a ration bar and cracking it in half, I glanced down at myself and shrugged, content with the state of disorganized I looked. (As a ninja representing the leaf, I was taught in the academy to always look my best on missions when possible, but the lazy look I used just fit me so well)

Munching on the dense but tasty bar, I made my way down the stairs and to the packed kitchen. Sensei was at the table awake, but seated, an empty plate in front of him, while Sasuke looked asleep at the table, munching on food with half closed eyes and a blank face. Naruto, as always, looked wide awake and cheerful, also with an empty plate in front of him. Tsunami turned from the stove where she was doing something, but I waved her off with the hand holding the ration bar, glancing out the window to my left to figure out the time. Probably around 11 in the morning it was still early. And I hadn't been woken for my night shift either. I should be mad, but instead I just felt relieved.

"Kage-chan, good to see that you're awake now." Kakashi began but I interrupted him with a quizzical look.

"When did you wake up? I had you pegged for a good day and a half at the least." I honestly had expected Kakashi to be knocked out for a full 30 odd hours, but I'd been wrong before.

"Earlier." Sensei dismissed me and continued. "Now that you're awake, I wanted to talk with everyone."

Tazuna moved to rise up from his spot at the table, "…I can leave if you ninja need privacy."

"No I think it's important for you too hear what I have to say, because it concerns you too." Here he paused and the whole attitude in the kitchen switched from tired and sleepy to tense and aware. Sasuke straightened up in his seat and Naruto focused on Kakashi's face. I stood leaning in the door way I had arrived in, not happy to be having this mission debrief, but recognizing that mistakes on a mission need to be noticed and rectified.

"I think Zabuza is alive." Mixed reactions to that news. Tazuna predictably didn't handle it well. Sasuke couldn't hold back his gape. Naruto screamed "WHAT DATTEBAYO!" Jumping from his seat, unable to hold back his excitement and worry. Tsunami clutched her hands to her chest to hold back their shaking.

And I froze. Trying to see what sensei had seen."There are a couple things that make me think this." Good, maybe with his explanation I could follow along. "The hunter-nin used senbon. Their leathality is very low. You need to be very precise to kill someone with them. Even then, it's difficult. However, if you're precise enough to aim for the kill points, you might also be precise enough to aim for spots that can trigger a death like state. I checked Zabuza's breathing and pulse, however if he was in a near death state, I wouldn't have been able to tell. For now, lets operate under the assumption that he is." Now I unfroze.

"BE RIGHT BACK." I shouted behind me as I ran out of the room and up the stairs. Entering the guest room that housed all our packs, I tore through mine before finding the anatomy book I had brought with me. Bookmarked with some of the senbon Shisui had give me were the pages I had been reading a few nights ago about kill spots for senbon. Racing back downstairs, I all but threw the book at Kakashi. "Here. With the sharingan, you can remember where he was struck, right? This will let you make a better guess on his life or not."

"THAT WAS SO FAST. Oops too loud sorry Kage-chan." I lowered my frown but looked around the room in surprise. Tsunami seemed to have forgotten the threat to her father's life for a second to goggle me, with Tazuna joining in. Even Sasuke seemed surprise. I guess the two boys hadn't been able to see me fight Zabuza yesterday, busy with their own fight, but still I was surprised. This was _slow_ for me. I was recovering from broken ribs and was still tired.

Kakashi brought me out of my thoughts. "Maaa. Based on the book, I'd have to say in all likelihood Zabuza is still alive. The hunter-nin is probably his partner. A very good partner as well considering that he was able to aim so accurately. Based on his speed, throwing ability, and his ability to remain hidden even during the fight, he ranks at least Chunin, perhaps even tokubetsu jonin. It allots however." He closed my book and handed it back to me. "He was sloppy at the end. Anbu are typically meant to destroy the body right then and there, with a few exceptions of course. If he had made a token attempt, I probably wouldn't have woken up questioning the situation. And then we would've been very unprepared."

His voice grew very serious at the end and I stood straight, eyeing him for a few minutes while all of us collapsed into heavy silence. (He was lost in thought staring at the whorls in the table) Finally I decided that as much as I was going to hate having a mid mission debrief, our team needed it.

"Sensei, are we going to debrief?" He looked up from the wood to meet my steady gaze with his one eye, then smiled at me.

"Typically no." What why and how. That was not the answer I expected. I was taught from the cradle (not really but from 3 and a half) that debriefs, as much as they sucked, were a necessary evil. What kind of jonin did not do regular mid-mission debriefs. "Unless, I'm working with a Nara or someone used to working with them like a Yamanaka or Akimichi." Huh. That was surprising. I hadn't realized that they weren't common. "Usually," He informed me, "Most teams I work with, especially those I lead, only do a single debriefing after we reach the village, or once the mission is officially over, whichever is easier and faster. But considering you were so helpful breaking down the situation earlier in the road, I was going to ask you to conduct this one."

I blanched and he chuckled. Everyone else looked confused and Naruto was on the verge of asking a ton of questions to Sensei spoke up. " A mission debriefing is done for missions over C rank. You can do them for D ranks as well but it gets very tedious so most don't bother." He shifted his gaze from me to the two boys sitting next to each other at the table. I knew what this a debrief was so this short lecture was for them (and the two nosy civilians) then for me. "The team discusses what went wrong and what went right on the mission. Usually its a pretty quick process and sometimes is skipped all together unless something went majorly of course on the mission." I moved to speak up, about to correct sensei because debriefs should _never_ be skipped (they were a valuable tool for improving ones ability, the teams overall cohesiveness and also helped to catch weaknesses and gaps in knowledge.

Sensei continued before i could speak up, "However, like I said before some teams take them more seriously then others. These can get pretty brutal as you get called out on mistakes you made that directly impacted the overall mission and safty of your comrades. Teams composed of Nara's or Yamanaka's or a random few others typically do two briefings. One about halfway through the mission to review any plans made, make adjustments to the teams structure, or to review what has happened so far. The second meeting happens after the mission and is the same thing, but more detailed. Its usually led by the team leader of the mission. However, because Kage is our appointed chief strategist, I'm asking her to lead this one." Naruto and Sasuke both nodded at Kakashi's joke (I hoped it was a joke. I was rather attached to my role of support. Chief strategist sounded like more work)

"What do we have to do to get better then?" Sasuke queried. Kakashi gestured to me to take over the conversation. I took a deep breath to center myself. I had done plenty of mock discussions like the with dad and Shika, but either one of them usually led the talk, so I was nervous. (Sensei wasn't lying. They could be brutal, because you were calling out your team on their weaknesses and overall failures. It sucked to hear that someone had noticed your fuck ups, especially ones you didn't even notice making.)

"Okay. I think we need to talk about that fight and how that affects us. Especially considering that Zabuza is still alive and probably pissed off at nearly dying. And Sensei is injured." I warbled off biting my lip. Not off to a good start. Okay, just got to channel dad. I sat down at the table and eyed my teammates and Tazuna (He was there so he was part of the debrief dammit.)

"Sasuke, what do you think you did wrong during the mission?" He was going to start us off on this emotional journey of a conversation. He looked surprised then angry.

"What I did wrong? I did everything just like I was supposed to! I listened to sensei and I even got him free! I—" I shook my head.

"No this isn't about what you did right. You _did_ listen to sensei. You protected the bridge builder and you also maintain proximity with Naruto and I. You did your job right. But right now we're looking for mistakes that were made. For example," I turned my gaze to Naruto, who I knew would not yet able to pick out his mistakes like I hoped Sasuke could. "Naruto you opened up the confrontation by trying to rush Zabuza. You almost left one side of Tazuna-san unprotected, if not for sensei. Speaking of which, you also distracted sensei from giving his full attention to Zabuza when sensei had to stop you. In the middle of the confrontation, you were over all fine. However, at the end, with the shadow shuriken, you spammed clones to throw in front of you and Sasuke. That was a waste of chakra that might have been needed if the fight hadn't ended as soon as it did."

"Instead, we need to improve your dodging and deflection skills. One clone that can deflect kunai is better then 6 clone bodies that waste energy and distract Sasuke." I turned back to Sasuke. "Which was one of the mistakes you made. You let yourself be distracted by the amount of clones surrounding you. You did eventually use teh distraction to your advantage, and using it as an attack at Zabuza. Having Naruto henge was quick thinking and a very good use of combinging a teammate's ability with your own...but we've been a team for over 3 months. Naruto's signature ability is shadow clones. You cant let yourself get distracted. Even with the garish amount of orange involved." Here he lowered his head.

"I also…" He hesitated, but I looked on encouragingly. (the best way to improve was to recognize your faults on your own without needing somone to point them out to you) "I also let myself get caught up in the middle of the fight. If Kakashi-sensei hadn't said something…" I shook my head.

"You're right it is a problem, but that's one we all need to work on in time. For now know your limits. Remember the feeling, and know that its just energy in the air. It's not real and you can breathe." He nodded sharply. I paused, hating the next part but knowing that before I could move on to Kakashi sensei I needed to talk about myself. (I was such a hypocrite. But knowing my flaws and mistakes was a very different feeling from admitting them out loud. And I had made some big ones that could have cost us the mission...)

"I…" I faltered then continued. "I let myself get caught up in the fight. I blocked the side of Tazuna that was closest to the trees, which was good for the shadows that were offered, but I didn't manage to notice the hunter-nin hiding in teh woods even though I was sensing for people." Kakashi looked like he was going to interrupt me here (because even he didn't notice the other ninja) but that wasn't the point of the debrief so I didn't let him. "I also didn't plan properly, when I went to hold off the Zabuza clone. I should've asked you to make a clone to watch him, Naruto." I nodded to the boy. "It's not a good team dynamic to have one person take on too much. I shouldn't have said I could handle holding off the clone, watching Tazuna-san and also blocking the real Zabuza. Ideally I should only have done one of those tasks, but because we don't live in a perfect world, I should've stuck to no more then two of them. ...I jeopardized the entire mission by not remembering teh mission objective. I should have made sure that there was a solid form of protection for Tazuna before running off and biting off more then I could chew."

I faced Tazuna. "I am very sorry for risking your life by not better focusing on your safety." I turned back to my team, adn brightened considerably "Okay with that, I think we can turn to Kakashi sensei." Naruto and Sasuke both looked surprised but Kakashi looked bemused.

"Me?"

"Even jonin-sensei make mistakes. Like moving a fight to the top of water against a former hunter-nin from the hidden mist who clearly has a water affinity."

"…Point."

"And also jonin who uses water affinity A rank jutsu that _drain_ his chakra reserves rather then sticking within his own affinity. Or at least using earth affinity that are strong against water affinity."

He nodded and said dryly, "I knew there was a reason I asked you to lead this."

Feeling loads lighter I grinned. "Okay now that we've talked about all this, we have to talk about the most important part. What can we do to improve this? What did we do right that we need to do again? What do we need to fix?" I looked at them expectancy.

Naruto raised his hand as if in a classroom, and I inclined my head at him, "I think the shuriken at the end worked really good. Sasuke managed to make the switch without anyone noticing. So he should use more genjutsu?" It came out as more a question,but I nodded anyway.

"Right, I agree. Sasuke, you're turning out to be this team's midrange fighter, and also a pinch close combat specialist. We should work on your genjutsu and also yours and Naruto's teamwork. The Shuriken trick was really well done." Naruto beamed and Sasuke sat up slightly straighter trying not to show how pleased he was. "It goes without saying that as a midrange fighter, you and Naruto, our close range fighter, are more likely to be partnering attacks then anyone else in the team. Although, … I think your skill with ninja wire is really helpful for my techniques. When we have time, we should really work on that..."

Sasuke nodded and added his own analysis. "You're really fast as well. If you can blend that speed with mine, we'd both probably have been able to handle the clone and the real Zabuza for a little while longer." I nodded in agreement, happy that our team was actually having a productive team-like conversation.

"Naruto," He straightened up, surprised. I guess he hadn't expected me to have any other praise for him after the shuriken technique. "We need to improve your sensory skills. You noticed a missing nin before anyone else on the team. I don't even think Kakashi-sensei noticed anything till you pointed it out. That is an invaluable skill that it seems I can't yet match, if ever."

I eyed my team again. "I think, as long as Kakashi agrees, that we should have some focused training for the next few days. A near death state, as well as huge chakra drain mean we won't have to deal with Zabuza for probably 3 or 4 days, but more likely a week." I looked at Kakashi for confirmation, biting my lip. He looked thoughtful but nodded his head eventually.

"We probably can expect a little more then a week, but we should be cautious."

I sighed in acknowledgement. "With that being said, I think we should work on our skills and weaknesses. Naruto, you need to work on dodging and sensory awareness. Sasuke, you need to work on genjutsu and a little ninja wire practice never hurts anyone. So I guess my specialized training for you two...hmm." I thought for a second, "You two are basically gonna beat the shit out of each other. Naruto, your goal is to just dodge or deflect. We're trying to build up you're awareness of Sasuke as well as your speed. So maybe after a few days we'll try blindfolding you and see what happens. Sasuke, you're going to be trying to hit him with weapons, to build up accuracy while maintaining your hidden location in the woods. This will help improve your chakra muffling ability and also...we should bring up your genjutsu skill. Okay, you're gonna try using genjutsu on the weapons to make it more difficult for Naruto to dodge. Similar to how you combined them against Zabuza. The feel of chakra weapons will only help Naruto with his senses. Personally, I was going to work on meditating to bring up my chakra reserves, and also being the person to go watch Tazuna at the bridge for the next few days, till you guys get enough practice that we can rotate in and out. In my spare time, I was also going to try and improve on my family jutsu, but I don't know how much I can do on my own, so I'll increase my weights to help bring up my strength and speed over the next week."

Even sensei looked impressed. I thought it was a pretty neat idea. Everyone had a place to be: a purpose. The training would be effective and would also bring up Sasuke and Naruto's teamwork because they would get very good at predicting the others move.

"And what about your poor sensei?" Said Sensei teased.

"Your going to sleep."

"…What." Unexpected? No, but I was hoping he would just accept that he needed to rest.

"You're our strongest person here. The best thing for you to do is recover from your injures and more importantly, refill your chakra reserves. I healed your ribs as best I could, so you should be fine with those in a few days, but your reserves need to be refilled. The best way is sleep and low activity. Maybe some light exercise like basic training, but nothing excessive. Perhaps you can accompany me and Tazuna? There isn't likely to be anything happening in the next few days. The Hunter-nin will probably attack with Zabuza, now that the element of surprise is over. That's what I would do anyway."

Kakashi hmmed in agreement. "Fine, I can manage rest."

"and sleep?"

"I'm a jonin." He said in explanation.

"So what—oh" I understood after a second. After so much training, the body got used to getting so many hours of sleep. The lack of sleep often made recovery difficult and hospital staff irritable, but considering the strenuous training our bodies went through, no one was really surprised. Our training affected us from how much we felt comfortable eating in on sitting to our ability to actually stay asleep for long periods of time. But… I had packed some Nara pills. More for myself and possible nightmares of lives past, but I had plenty.

"I might have a sleep aid with me…" He looked at me blankly (Fuck maybe that wasn't the word here. Well it was self explanatory, so I was just gonna play it off like he was clueless not me) "They're pills and remedies that help you fall asleep. The ones I have help you stay asleep, but as long as you get 3 or 4 hours, you're not too drowsy after."

He looked intrigued but shook his head focusing on the table.

"And that children, is a a debrief." Naruto and Sasuke looked a little bit shell-shocked. (It had been very information dense, and it was always hard to talk about what you did wrong in a situation, but I was pretty proud of my team. Usually these talks go way worse. No one had seemed to take anything too personal. We'd managed pretty well. Perhaps this was a good sign of our team to come.) "Lets move to it. We're wasting day light; those are perfect training hours out there." I turned back to Tazuna, who looked bemused at the quick swing from serious discussion to playful orders, "Are you ready to get back to bridge building today? I'm sure I'll be fine with any thugs that show up. We shouldn't be getting any big names till Zabuza is back."

With that being said the kitchen unfroze and everyone moved to get ready for their assigned task.

~line break~

After about 3 days of Sensei sleeping and doing nothing but reading his book, I relented to his puppy dog eye and declared him fit enough to do whatever he wanted. His ribs were almost completely healed, his own chakra system, as well as my healing I had administered right away, significantly speeding up the healing process (compared to a normal human like my previous life medical knowledge expected). He decided to send a clone with me to the bridge, which had been quiet, while the real him joined in on Sasuke and Naruto's training.

"If you don't tell them your joining in, its even better training for them." I suggested.

He ruffled my hair, mussing my ponytail, "Sneaky little genin." He said approvingly. When Naruto and Sasuke returned that night they both complained about feeling like they hadn't improved at all. One glance at Sensei's blank face let me know that they were doing just fine.

I had taken to bringing my medical book with me, as well as my pack of cards. While everyone worked, I studied the text, trying to incorporate the strike and kill points for kunai, shuriken and senbon into my extensive anatomical knowledge (really the chakra system still threw me off and I'd been studying for a couple months now). When Tazuna and the other workers took smoke or meal breaks, I dealt out hands and played quick games of poker, black jack, and a curious game I'd never heard of but was like a mix of go fish and bullshit. I'd never really gambled in my past life (I used to be a goody two shoes with no life to speak of besides studying and netflix) but in this life, quick reflexes, sharp eyes and an even sharper mind was enough to count cards and figure out odds. I purposely lost most hands anyway. These men needed a pick me up and apparently beating the little ninja gave it to them. Any other free time I had allowed me to meditate and try to improve my sensing ability.

The days passed quickly like this and it wasn't until the sixth day since the fight with Zabuza, the fifth since we'd begun training in earnest, that Kakashi decided to bring along an extra genin. He left a clone with Naruto to practice with, while both Sasuke and I escorted Tazuna to the bridge, Kakashi ambling behind us. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except I now played more cards then I did reading. By the end of the day, I had actually had a conversation unrelated to ninja life with Sasuke. (perhaps emo boy and I will be friends after all...)

The next day it was switched, with Sasuke left at the home to train with one of Kakashi's clones dodging, while Naruto accompanied me to the bridge.

It was on this twelfth day since the fight that Zabuza and his hunter-nin friend decided to attack.

~Linebreak~


	11. Chapter 11

This is long as shit, as promised because it took a week to write (10k words compared to the normal ~4k). It's a bit different then the other chapters because I threw in another POV. I feel like seeing their mind now might better explain their motives later. I also hope you don't mind but this chapter is a little more graphic (nothing too bad, but I figure you deserve a warning.)This is also the conclusion of the wave arc; next chapter, we should be back in Konoha. Please let me know if you have any question or concerns in a review or PM because its always nice to have feedback! (or if you wanna say nice stuff to me that's cool too)

Next chapter is Next Friday/ Saturday morning. Enjoy!

~Linebreak~

The only warning we had was the heavy stench of blood. Kakashi must've recognized it, however I had neither the senses nor the experience to notice the smell. Naruto did have the senses, having spent the better part of the last two week honing them, but could not yet place the cloying, metallic smell of blood.

For whatever reason Kakashi-sensei didn't warn us beforehand. (Maybe he thought it was just hired thugs; we had been expecting Zabuza for days now, with no sign of him. Perhaps we were wrong and the man had actually been killed. Or maybe sensei just thought that we worked better under pressure. Regardless, for whatever reason, we walked into the situation metaphorically and literally blind.) The mist was heavy around us, thick and swirling, dampening our senses on everything around us and muffling our footsteps.

Naruto noticed before me and I noticed before Tazuna. I was only a moment behind Naruto because I still felt the chakra signatures around us. The still and quiet predawn air was so serene that my reaction to noticing the body on the ground next to me was very underwhelming. I almost didn't react at all; I suppose I just wasn't ready to witness a massacre like this. Peering through the fog I noticed more people ('soon to be corpses if they don't get treatment' I thought in a faraway voice) lying on the ground. It was about that time that Tazuna finally noticed his fallen colleagues and his reaction was much louder than my detached silence or Naruto's shocked exclamation. The man let out an emotional roar; I wasn't sure what he was feeling more of: grief, anger, despair? The three seemed to tie for priority in his cry.

"They're still alive, if only barely. Not for much longer, but I wasn't paid to kill them so I didn't make it a priority." Zabuza's low voice came from ahead of us on the bridge. I strained my eyes, trying to see through the mist, but in the early predawn light, there wasn't much to make out. His voice held cold clinical detachment with just a hint of wry humor. If it wasn't for the subject matter, I would've said that he had a nice voice. As it was, I was still coldly assessing all the damage I could see and folding it in with my mental profile of the missing nin. Kakashi had informed us of just some of his exploits and handedly showed us his BINGO book page, but this level of attack, even against untrained civilians, was unreal. I mean sure, in the fight with sensei he had shown himself to be a more than capable ninja, but this was overwhelming.

All the bridge workers who'd arrived here before us were out of commission. And that was most of them because they lived closer to the worksite then Tazuna, and by extension us. Somehow Zabuza had managed to disable, _not kill,_ every one of them. And I didn't notice any sign of a struggle; no excess blood spatters, or thrown tools to show that any of the workers had even noticed there incoming demise.

And that was terrifying. Because Zabuza had managed to attack everyone, silently, leaving them disabled enough that they didn't cry out any warnings to their peers, but alive enough that Naruto and I hadn't noticed any missing chakra signals. While I had read his BINGO book page, clearly it was either underestimating him—or he was had improved vastly beyond his profile. And the latter was more likely considering he had hidden a companion with him, one who Kakashi had never heard of, even in rumors about the swordsman.

"Kakashi, you're a real ninja. Not like those brats. Give up the old man and you can go. I'll even let your brats walk away, free to hug a tree another day." He gave a soft but menacing chuckle.

"You two will be guarding Tazuna." Kakashi ignored the taunting voice and readied himself, pulling out a standard kunai from his pack.

(Part of me took the second to marvel at how amazing our jonin sensei was; standard kunai were used by genin and some chunin who hadn't found a more custom style. Most experienced chunin and higher used kunai more suited to their style, such as Asuma-sensei, the Ino-Shika-Cho sensei, who used blades tailored to his wind style, or the Yellow Flash, yondaime, who was renown for his three pronged kunai. And yet, against one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, my sensei had the balls, and ability based on his previous fight, to use a standard kunai. Against a fucking ginormous sword. Against a man that could swing said giant's sword one handed with no visible effort. Just…wow.)

"You're gonna fight? And die for this old man? Why do you even care?" Came the still clinically detached response. "This isn't your fight. This isn't even your country. He can't be paying you enough. The whole country is broke; why risk it? Risk your brats?"

All of these were valid points. When I later looked back on this fight, I might even realize right here was the moment I began to truly splinter from my old life. (I had been a good sport about reincarnations, ninjas, chakra, future murder lined career, living in a story book, everything. But risking my life? And my team mates life? For an inconsequential man who had lied to us about mission parameters?) If I had a vote, I would have voted to leave this miserable country behind. And my past life vehemently rejected the idea of abandoning a country to a mafia style cartel. In my past life, I had lived by a moral code: if you have the power to do something, and you chose to do nothing, you are a part of the evil you despise in the world.

In this world I _had_ power, and I had timing and I had locality. I literally would have gone to the ends of the earth to help Wave Country in my past life. And yet here I was, coldly analyzing the situation and considering abandoning this country to their deaths for the sake of surviving another day. Thankfully, I had two teammates who kept me grounded for another day at least.

"NO WAY, DATTEBAYO. THESE PEOPLE NEED THIS BRIDGE AND WE"RE GONNA HELP THEM MAKE IT!" Naruto was the first respond, his fists balled at his side and his face set and determined. Kakashi let out a soft chuckle in front of us.

Speaking to the swirling mists, Kakashi added his two cents: "We are ninja of Konoha and our mission is to protect the bridge builder. We will not fail our mission."

Another soft laugh from Zabuza echoed around the mist, even as Kakashi focused his chakra and pushed it outward, clearing the bridge of mist for the moment. Standing about 50 yards off from us was Zabuza, demon of the mist, and his hunter-nin partner. I stiffened at the sight of them. While in our last fight, we had all managed to avoid the monster sized sword, from where I now stood, I could see the dark stain on the blade. It brought up some terrifying memories, but I pushed them to the side, taking deep breaths and focusing on the mission and protecting Tazuna.

"Kage, you're going to stay and protect Tazuna. Naruto, you're going to handle the other ninja. You've been working on your dodging, but be careful; the hunternin was deadly accurate with their senbon." Kakashi corrected his earlier statement, his voice serious, out of character for the relaxed sensei I had grown accustomed to, "I've dispelled my shadow clone, so hopefully Sasuke realizes that something's going on and comes to join us. Naruto, you should be able to handle the missing nin, while you" He motioned towards me with his chin, his eyes never leaving Zabuza, "Will be able to guard Tazuna." I gave a stiff nod.

"I recognize him." Naruto admitted in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

What.

"What?" Kakashi echoed, sounding surprised and worried.

"Sasuke and I met him in the woods one day before we started training. He said he was protecting his precious people…" I had no response to that. I'd already noted that I didn't have any feelings one way or the other about this mission. It was just a mission, that had gotten much more dangerous then we signed up for; we were well within our rights to abandon it. But Naruto had gotten attached. To Inari and Tsunami, and to Tazuna who was doing so much for his community. "…But I guess so do we."

So while I had no words, no more words needed to be said. We all stood quietly, eyeing the other side, waiting for something to happen. And again, there was the discrepancy between my past life and my current life, because I was excited ('That wasn't the word… Anticipatory? Eager?') for this fight to begin. While I was scared to be facing down opponents so out of our league, I was ready to start the fight. Clearly the two jonin agreed because at some unseen signal, they launched at each other (Even though they were both wearing masks, I swear I could see the animalistic smiles on their faces), Kakashi moving quicker so that they met about two-thirds of the way down the bridge. Naruto followed suite, moving slower then sensei, and the masked man met him about a third of the way down the bridge.

The fights were intense for different reasons: Naruto was still spamming clones, but they were doing well dodging the senbon. They were also flinging some of the clones at the masked man, attacking him with fists and kunai before dispersing in smoke to his counterattack. It was uncoordinated and undeniably effective and 100% Naruto.

Kakashi's fight on the other hand, was quick and deadly. The two met each other strike for strike, steel flashing for a second as they nimbly danced around each other, searching for an opening. For every strike Naruto and the missing nin threw, Kakashi and Zabuza threw 20. The levels of engagement were so vastly different it was like the difference between day and night.

"Stay back here and don't move no matter what. It's easier to protect you if I know exactly where you are at all times." I motioned to where Tazuna should stand and pulled out my own kunai, quickly doing the hand seals for my family jutsu so that if the need arose, I needed only think the movement. The fight moved quickly, the minutes passing slowly mostly in tense silence except for the sound of heavy breathing, harsh metal colliding, and the tinkling of senbon being deflected and falling to the ground. Again, at some unseen signal, the two jonin jumped apart eying each other.

"Your brats improved." Zabuza noted impassively.

"You have a brat of your own." Kakashi noted with just as much inflection. The heavy breathing was coming from Naruto, masked ninja, and Tazuna who was having a minor panic attack. The two older ninja hardly seemed winded. Naruto and the masked ninja took advantage of the lull in the battle to also hop apart.

"Haku is a tool I picked up a few years ago. You might have heard of the Kiri blood purges, Kakashi?" It was said conversationally, but anyone could read the subtext. Haku had a bloodline limit. Haku was Dangerous, capital D. Zabuza continued while Haku stood impassively watching Naruto catch his breath. "Not only does he have a bloodline limit; he's also able to analyze a situation and completely break it down. He knows how to defeat an enemies greatest strength through observation. And he was observing out first match."

Fuck. Repeat: Fuck. This was so not good. Zabuza continued while I mentally began to panic.

"Without your sharingan you're useless Kakashi. I lost the battle once I let you hypnotize me into thinking you could read my mind, that you could predict my movements. But what will you do if you cant see? You've grown complacent. Ninja need to rely on all their senses, but you relyon that eye. And without it, you would have lost our last fight. Without it you will be nothing! HIDING IN THE MIST JUTSU!"

"Are you serious? That's the best plan you could come up with in two weeks? I mean I know sensei is good, but like I could come up with 3 better ideas on the fly…"

Naruto and sensei both snorted and even through the ever growing mist, I could see Zabuza swing his head around to glare at me. "Did I say that out loud? Cause I definitely didn't mean to. You're ahhh… very intimidating and I'm sure using the mist will work for you. _This time._ " I couldn't bite back the snarky reminder that he had used mist in our first fight to little effect.

Still, this mist felt heavier than before. More dampening on sound and smell. It was also chakra heavy to the point that I could no longer sense Naruto or Sensei's familiar signatures, let alone the two enemies. I took a step back, pushing closer to Tazuna. While I couldn't see anything, I was certain that the first attack would be at Tazuna. Not because I had just annoyed the ninja (Although that certainly helped) but because he was turning out to be semi-predictable. He would taunt Sensei, let him know how much he wanted to kill him, then he would turn around and ignore sensei and aim for Tazuna. It was the most illogical thing to do; to ignore the jonin aiming for your head, but it was so impractical that it worked. It was unlike sensei to ever do something so outrageous so it took Kakashi longer to guess the plan.

Sure enough Zabuza's voice crept out ominously from all directions again taunting Sensei and his reliance on his eyes. I frowned trying to ignore him and put all my efforts into my surroundings. A little ways off, I could hear the missing nin in a soft voice apologizing to Naruto. (That doesn't sound very good. I hope Sasuke understood sensei's hint and shows up. He should already be on his way if he did get underlying message, but then again, perhaps he won't even notice the clone is missing? Or perhaps he needs to protect Tazuna's family? I shrugged off the thought, unable to allow myself another worry.)

"Argh!" Naruto let out a cry. I tensed, but didn't move. For one, in the swirling mists, I couldn't correctly predict which direction the scream had come from and I didn't trust the genjutsu laden air to not mislead me in a walk off the bridge and to my death. For a second reason, Zabuza was still talking and I was sure he was going to attack any second.

I forced myself to relax. I needed to be ready for this. I was planning on doing something (very) stupid and I needed to make sure I got it right. Zabuza had seen my current level of shadow techniques. So I had begun practicing the next level of my okaa-san's technique, even though I wasn't supposed to without supervision. Still, it was probably my best chance to keep Tazuna and myself from imminent death until Sensei realized what was what.

Sure enough, Zabuza came for us, swinging his sword. I felt the blast of ki a second before I saw him, but I didn't wait for visual confirmation. Focusing all my chakra I closed my eyes for a second, visualizing the exact angle I would need, then I built with the shadows from the mist. I created a tilted pillar of shadow, much harder than my typical tentacle. This shadow construct would one day be enough to block such a blow, but for now, it was not yet strong enough to block a sword swing from a jonin. Instead, I was relying on general physics course I had taken in undergrad to get me by. The pillar was at a sharp angle, more then 45 degrees out of the ground and I watched the savage look on the missing nin's face change to unadulterated anger as the sword skidded up on the ramp I had created, its energy redirected into friction and upwards momentum instead. My shadow still formed cracks but I clasped my hands together tighter, still in the final ram seal of the technique, trying to focus my energy, hoping the structure would hold. Sensei rushed over us, having noticed the killing intent. His kunai in hand, he came from behind me, ducking under my shadow pillar, striking for Zabuza's neck, but the ninja blocked with his forearm.

Zabuza launched himself back, retreating into the mist. But not quick enough. Kakashi followed, tracking him with his eyes as best he could. A trail of blood followed Kakashi, dripping from the kunai. Even in his anger at being thwarted, Zabuza quickly melted back into the shadows, the ki vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. Kakashi also disappeared. I heard more steel colliding as the two ninja met, then more silence. I was once again blind to the situation. I could also hear muffled groans and small cries, but I couldn't place whether they were the masked ninja, or Naruto. I hoped for one and prayed against the other.

I was worried about Naruto. I didn't want to hear him scream again, but it was confirmation that he was alive; I could recognize his voice and be sure it was him. The loud ninja normally gave periodic whoops of joy and I wished he would do so now. I stretched my senses out again, as far as I could. Nothing. I knew there were people around me which meant the fog was so dense that it muted everything around me. The fight had been more than 20 minutes this time. And as dense as this fog was, chances were that Zabuza couldn't maintain it that much longer. The amount of chakra in the air betrayed how draining this technique must be.

I took a deep breath, trying to focus myself and recover from using the my okaa-san's technique. It had been a gamble, a calculated risk, that had paid off but only barely. I had drained my chakra to a little less than a third of my reserves. I was now playing on the bluff that I could do that again, hoping that Zabuza would call me on it. Tazuna was shaking slightly; whether it was from fear or shock, I couldn't be certain. Zabuza chose to speak up again:

"Your student's nearly dead. He cant hope to face Haku with his blood line limit active. There's a reason Kiri nearly killed them all off; with a Kekei Genkai, ninja like Haku are nearly unstoppable."

There came another strangled cry from Naruto. I wondered what the blood line technique was. I also wondered again how long the mists would be kept up. The silence extended and I ached for something. The silence and the waiting was enough to drive me insane. I counted in my head, because if I didn't the long minutes would have seemed like hours or days. Finally, I heard a small commotion, more heavy breathing and then…barking?

"ARGH" Like a movie from my past life, the mist blew away in a sharp gust as Zabuza swung around, trying to fling dogs off of himself. I remembered from my past life that Kakashi had a really cute talking pug. Clearly I didn't remember the other 7 dogs sensei owned.

"I may have been relying on the sharingan in my more recent years, but I started as a tracker. All my senses are above average, almost as good as an Inuzaki." He stepped slowly towards Zabuza preforming rapid hand seals in such quick succession, I couldn't count how many there were. A lot, as far as I could see. His right arm lit up with bright white chakra, cracking with electricity I had never felt in this new life. The whole area felt static charged and I wondered if my hair was standing up even more then usual. ('Maybe that's why Kakashi's stands up?') Kakashi took a step, then a half step, then he was darting towards Zabuza, swinging his lightening arm towards Zabuza. The dogs jumped off with practiced timing and Zabuza moved to block, but it was too late because then Kakashi's arm literally went right through Zabuza. My mouth hung open. It was a bloody mess behind Zabuza, his innards blasted out behind him, but there were none of the puddle of blood I had expected. Which meant that Kakashi's jutsu had literally cauterized the wound as it struck.

Another slight cry came from Naruto's direction. I pivoted in that direction, but made no move. I felt like the fight was wrapping up, but I didn't let my guard down. I was still eager to fight, to do something and the heart pounding encounter with Zabuza earlier hadn't dissuaded me in the slightest. I was like an adrenaline junkie after my next rush. I needed to do _something._ I wanted to rush towards…whatever the fuck ice thing I was looking at but I couldn't yet abandon Tazuna. Especially as I heard Zabuza and Kakashi beginning their deadly dance again.

('He can still move fairly well with a hole in his stomach. The fact that the wound cauterized means Zabuza isn't at risk of bleeding out.' I mentally noted for the after mission debrief, 'Which isn't ideal for a fight like this because it allows Zabuza to continue with minimal discomfort considering.')

A flash of blue caught my attention out of the corner eyes and I spun quickly eyeing the new threat. "I think only Sensei is allowed to be late." I deadpanned to Sasuke. He gave a small smirk but didn't answer, moving towards Naruto's location. "It's a bloodline!" I called after him quietly. He gave a small wave in acknowledgment, and edged his way around the ongoing jonin fight.

"Another brat? Haku will kill him too." Zabuza sounded worse for wear. Kakashi and him split-up again and they were both closer to where I stood. I took advantage of his proximity, checking out his wounds. I flicked my gaze over his sternum and stomach and studied the hole. It was his lower stomach, but he had dodged well all things considered, because it seemed Kakashi had missed Zabuza's vital organs. It probably nicked his colon and his left kidney, but that wasn't enough to immediately end the fight. My fearful admiration of the man grew. He was insanely good, and I had never been more glad that sensei for sensei's own expertise. Zabuza continued in his ragged voice, "Haku is a tool I've been training for years. He's a heartless shinobi machine; what about your brats? Do they have the heart for this? For the dark side of shinobi life?"

It sounded like a demented and twisted form of competitive bragging of football dads in my past life; Zabuza bragging about Haku's ability to maim and murder like a proud father. Kakashi replied in turn.

"You're facing the best and brightest that the leaf has to offer." He nodded towards the ice structure that Sasuke had slipped into. "That right there is the rookie of the year, but he's much more then that. He's a near prodigious talent, with all the abilities that comes with."

"Surely you don't think your brats are ready for this. For ninja life. For murder and death." Zabuza actually sounded more disbelieving then in pain, so clearly he was actually doubtful in our abiliity. Still I wondered if that was from what we had shown him or from his impression of the innocent, self proclaimed 'good guys' reputation that the leaf promoted.

('If the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he dint exist, then the greatest trick the leaf ever pulled was convincing the world that we were the innocent and good village. We were just as dark as any other.')

"Not entirely. He's one of the best, true, and he's got the potential as one of the best of his generation. He _is_ still a fresh genin. But my team tends to work best under pressure. And here he is, ready to defend his team, fresh compared to the exhausted state your disciple must be in. So I think you can guess who think will win? A kekkei genkai in use over 10 minutes? Or a fresh set of eyes, so to speak.?"

I wondered why sensei was bluffing so hard. As far as I knew, Sasuke hadn't actually activated his bloodline limit yet. Still I was sure that sensei could handle Zabuza now. So I just trusted in Sasuke and Naruto to handle the other ninja.

Sasuke POV:

The day started normally; or as normal as can be when you're living out of someone else's house in the middle of a mission in a poor country facing a depression. I got up, kicked the dobe awake, and ignored Kage's sleeping form. As the rookie of the year, I was intelligent enough to not make the same mistake twice because Kage was _not_ a morning person. And frankly, although I'd never tell her, the innocent smile she had when she said she wasn't going to take revenge was scarier then anything I had ever seen.

As was usual for the mission, I was the first of the genin awake, so I managed to get ready with no interruptions or rushing. I made my way downstairs munching on half of a ration bar and mumbling a hello to Sensei, Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari. Sensei motioned to the seat next to him and I obliged, sitting down a little less gracefully then usual in my sleepy haze. He poured a cup of tea for me and then went back to cupping his own tea.

"I was speaking with Tazuna here about the plan today. It's going to be the same thing we've been doing. I'm hopeful that Zabuza was hurt worse then we expected because we still haven't seen any sign of him. Kage-chan and Naruto-kun are with me to the bridge today, and you're here training with a clone Sasuke." I nodded, hiding the shiver at the mention of sensei's clone. I couldn't deny my techniques had improved, but sensei was a vicious teacher. He played mind games just as well as he physically trounced Naruto and I. Nothing he did was normal or expected and I was beginning to think the term outside the box didn't exist for sensei— I don't think the box ever existed for him.

A few minutes later a cheery looking Naruto bounced into the room. I twitched. While I had no issue waking up, that didn't mean I was _happy_ to be awake. Naruto on the other hand was like a switch; either dead asleep, or so wide awake and loud that the next two countries could make out what he was saying clearly. I was just grateful that he didn't snore. I didn't like loud noises or spaces so I sleep was at least peaceful for me.

"Naruto-kun, you and Kage-chan are at the bridge with me and Tazuna this morning. Finish your bar and be ready to go. We need to leave soon." Naruto happily obliged, reaching to the center of the table and pouring himself some juice to go along with it. Sensei left to go wake our third teammate.

When we heard a loud thump and then her swearing, Naruto made eye contact with me snickering. I couldn't suppress a smirk. While I actually had (shockingly) found Kage to not be the waste of space I expected of her and Naruto, she was too lazy and uncouth for a kunoichi. Naruto too seemed to love when the small girl was rudely awoken by Kakashi sensei. He'd explained without prompting during one of their sparring sessions that Kage was _scary_ when she was being woken up and that seeing Kakashi sensei do it without any extra effort was 'payback for over the years.'

A few minutes later a grudgingly awake Kage joined us in the kitchen munching on her own breakfast. She didn't say anything and barely acknowledged anyones presence, but she wasn't a morning person like Naruto so it didn't bother me like it had the first few days. Now I appreciated the silence she offered compared to Naruto constant setting of LOUD. Kage was followed by two sensei's; one started moving along Naruto, Kage and Tazuna, while the other unashamedly flirted with Tsunami, the bridge builders daughter. I sighed knowing from experience now that if I didn't drag him away, he would stay here all day flattering the civilian girl.

"Sensei, it's time to train. Let's go." I moved right in the middle of the two and crossed my arms. I waited till sensei moved, letting him lead the way. (earlier in the week, he had told me he was following me and I spent an hour in the woods alone searching all over for a sensei who remained in the kitchen flirting with the hostess. I was _not_ making that mistake again) We made our way into the forest moving towards the heavily wooded clearing we had been using to practice. Scattered broken kunai and senbon littered the clearing from where Naruto had deflected them too. The dobe had improved tremendously in the past two weeks, but I wasn't quite so upset about that as I had thought I would be. Because while Naruto had improved, he also was a very good partner to train with. I knew that my own abilities had only benefited from the genjutsu and throwing practice that Kage had suggested.

Sensei read his book during the walk to the clearing, and was generally quiet which is why I almost missed him darting off into the woods. Once he disappeared, I muffled my chakra signature as best I could and hopped into the woods as well, taking care to move in the opposite direction I had seen him go. I readied myself, a kunai in my left hand and a thread of ninja wire in my right, ready to thread it and throw once I sighted sensei. I wanted to spot him first because once he started attacking me, I would be on the defensive all day.

I didn't stop, knowing from past mistakes with Naruto that the longer I stayed in one place, the easier I was to find. Instead I moved, searching the forest around me for signs that sensei had-There! Broken tree branches. Was that from sensei today? Or from sensei's training another day? The tree branch looked like it had fresh sap at the break, but I wasn't sure. I decided to follow it anyway.

There was a rustle in the bushes a little way off and a bit of smoke from a jutsu. (A kawarimi? There was definitely a slight bit of smoke, but why?) I didn't hesitate to launch my kunai at the bush, simultaneously preforming a low level genjutsu so that it appeared to be aiming for the center of the bush rather then the left hand corner it was actually destined for. There was no more movement, which meant that I had been wrong. I quickly darted off, ducking my head and hustling away.

Whenever I used genjutsu, I apparently spiked my chakra ever so slightly. It wasn't too noticeable—unless I was trying to suppress my signature like right now, in which case it lit up like a beacon. I had to get away before sensei used this opportunity to 'teach me a lesson'.

About 10 minutes later, I was no closer to finding any other sign of sensei. Even weirder was that he hadn't retaliated yet. Which was odd, because normally if I didn't find him right away, he would take advantage of his hidden location and attack me. And he was very good at attacking me and staying hidden. I had dozens of small cuts and bruises for Kage every other evening because sensei didn't believe in using dull kunai for training. He expected us to pluck the senbon out and move on.

Deciding that sensei must be up to something, I wondered what he expected me to do. I decided to do the opposite. I doubled back the way I had come until I was back in the clearing we had initially arrived at. I expected that if sensei wasn't taking training seriously by attacking me, then he must be doing something like hiding back with the bridge builders daughter again. Sure enough, on the way back, I finally saw numerous signs of movement through the woods. It put me even more on edge however, because it was so obvious. It reeked of one of Sensei's traps. Still I followed the sliced branches.

…and a sliced boar. 'Gross. Sensei's going a bit overboard. Maybe it's a genjutsu?' One Kai later proved it was very real. I frowned. Something very wrong was going on here and I wasn't quite sure what. I followed the path of carnage that led all the way back to the house. I made sure to keep my signature muffled, wary without knowing the exact reason why.

A woman screamed. I tensed more, and picked up my speed, but kept a tight rein on my chakra signature. There was my evidence that something was definitely off, and I didn't want to tip off anyone that I was coming back.

"The house is empty. Stupid tree huggers couldn't even protect you." Sneered a voice, just loud enough for me to overhear as I reached the tree line. I hung back peeking through the leaves to make out two ninja, one holding up Tsunami by her throat, the other leering at her, holding a bloody scimitar.

"P-please stop. I don't want any trouble." Her voice was faint and her face was growing slightly white from the lack of blood flow.

"Trouble found you though bitch. Gato's orders; we're here to kill you." He shook her by her neck, but she didn't say anything. From the color of her face, I suspected she didn't have the air in her lungs to respond. I held back a gag. "And your dads gonna die today too. You really think you can go against him? This whole fucking fish village is worthless. Don't worry, we're merciful. The rest will meet you in the afterlife." That was enough for me to hear. My team needed me at the bridge if they were going to be attacked today. But first…

I aimed carefully, then threw one, two, three shuriken one after the other. I was on autopilot from the academy and the two weeks of practice I'd had. The second shuriken had some wire attached, which I quickly lit up with a spark of katon jutsu, just like Naruto had suggested. It burned strong and quickly, because at Naruto's suggestion, I had soaked some wire in a flammable solution earlier this week. The ninja holding Tsunami had no idea what it him. First his wrist was hit, releasing his hold on the woman. Then his loose jacket was punctured through by the second shuriken, the fire quickly shooting down the line to spread to his clothing. It only took a few seconds for the chakra enhanced fire and flammable string to spread the fire to his body. The third projectile flew towards the second ninja, and I used a quick genjutsu Kakashi sensei had shown me to make it appear as if it were dozens. I hadn't quite perfected this genjutsu yet, and I still wasted more chakra then necessary, but the fact that his comrade next to him was _literally_ _on fire_ more then made up for the lack of quality in the genjutsu and he fell for it, unable to duck from the barrage of weaponry coming for him. Instead the lone shuriken hit him right in his throat, placed just where the academy had taught us to aim for.

It sliced through one of his carotid arteries and then he was clutching at his throat with his hand, trying to hold back the blood, but there was too much to hold back. It was splurted through his fingers, wetting the earth and helping to put out the his friends screaming corpse.

Tsunami looked on in horror. I joined her, frozen in shock, for once unable to hold back the emotions on my face. This was… much more then I had expected. In just a few seconds, a few blinks of an eye, with only three shuriken and a simple jutsu I had mastered at 7, I had just killed two men. I was just doing what the academy had taught me to do. I aimed for all the right spots and used all the proper techniques. Still nothing had prepared me for how…easy it was to take a life. These ninja, they could hardly be called ninja. How could someone that spent their entire lives training: die, _just like that?_ Was that al life was worth? Was the difference between civilian and ninja so wide? With just a shuriken to the throat and a genin level ninja wire with some added katon…

I don't know how long I just stood there, watching the blackening corpse changes from screams to whimpers then silence. I cant tell you how long I eyed the man clutching his throat, twitching and the gurgling his last breaths before he joined his comrade in silence. I stood there soundless as Tsunami broke down, huge heaving sighs. It was probably too long, but I was frozen. I didn't move until Inari, his face tearstriken came out of the house shakily, holding the door frame as if it were his only grounding to the earth.

I didn't move until I saw him come out and throw himself at his mother, crying, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou."

What? That had not been what I expected. Tsunami too looked up at him, her heaving sighs momentarily abated, but still the tears dripped down her face. Inari looked up at me, still holding his mom.

"I was so scared. I'm not… I told Naruto there are no such things as heroes. And I meant it. But then mom needed help. And I just stood there. Like a coward. And she almost left me too. Just like dad… Like all my precious people do. But—Thank you. Thank you. Thank—"his voice broke, as joined his mom in his tears, the two turning to hug each other, neither letting go.

If he hadn't said exactly what he said, I wonder if I would have just stood there, a statue, for the rest of time, unable to move on from that spot. Because none of the lessons in the academy had ever prepared me for how horrible and humidifying taking a life was. None of the academy lessons even touched on the existential crisis I was confronted with. But Inari's words reached me. Me, who always focused about killing Itachi (even though killing someone had broken me a little inside, because it was so easy; so horrifyingly easy and disturbing, was that all a life was worth?) Because I also worried about being left behind. I too had been abandoned, not by choice, but abandoned nonetheless by everyone I cared about. By my mother and father, by my extended family, even by my traitorous older brother, who once I had loved above everyone else.

And right now my team was going to be facing missing ninja on the bridge. I found my voice.

"I'm going to go to the bridge now. Stay inside and stay hidden. You should be fine if stay quiet. Everyone will be back soon."

I didn't wait for an answer, instead taking off for the bridge. I had a team to look after.

~Line break~

The closer I got to the bridge, the more mist there was surrounding me. It was heavy and hard to move in almost like it was taking my breath away, but I didn't let myself slow. Instead I pushed on, even faster, sure now that there was an attack on the bridge today. I didn't slow down until I came across a body. For a second my heart stopped, caught somewhere in my throat, before I noticed it was one of the workers. Taking a deep breath, letting my tunnel vision and ringing ears recede, I continued on.

Kage was the next person I saw, considering I ignored the bodies. I quickly took in the scene. She was guarding Tazuna, and hadn't yet noticed me while Sensei was dealing with Zabuza. And Naruto must be in the giant ice thing because his amount of orange would stick out, even in this fog.

"I think only sensei is allowed to be late." Even in my foul mood, I let out a small smirk. Only Kage could be so cavalier in a tense situation. I had no idea where her dark sense of humor came from, but she had proven herself to have a gallows humor that could make me burst out laughing so loud that the bridge workers had stared. It fit that she could joke even now.

Leaving her to handle the bridge builder, which I was confident she could handle as neither her nor the man were injured, I moved quickly towards the ice structure, trying my best to skirt the jonin fight. Kakashi sensei must have noticed me because Zabuza didn't move any closer to me. "It's a kekkai genkai" Kage informed me as I angled towards Naruto.

I gave a small wave, already distracted for how to handle this. I shut out the world; I ignored the older ninja talking. There was no time to bother with them. I had to …trust…sensei. Afterall, Kage had pointed out one day, if Sensei couldn't handle Zabuza, hold him back, we were all dead anyway; the fight from two weeks ago had more then proved that when she had managed for just a few _seconds_ and she was turning out to be no slouch.

I eyed the ice, noting from the outside that it looked like giant mirrors, which was weird. I circled the structure finding it was the same all the way around. I threw a few kunai at the mirrors, but they didn't even scratch the surface. A Great Fireball jutsu later also proved useless. I could see a flash moving within the glass, and when I focused on it, it almost seemed like a person? and I had already caught sight of Naruto. He was doing his best to dodge, but he was at an impasse. There was nothing I could for him out here. I wasted no more time, waiting for an opening, and when there wasn't any flash of color I darted in, rushing to Naruto's side.

He didn't seem surprised to see me, but with all the training we'd done together in the first week, I was pretty sure he could find my chakra signature in his sleep.

"Need some help dobe?"

"You wish emo. I was just taking care of this guy."

I stayed quiet, waiting for Naruto to let me know what was going on. He obliged after a moment, sounding exhausted and frustrated. "He's the guy we met in the woods the other day." I stiffened: A spy then. "He uses these ice mirrors, hops between them and hides in them. I can't attack him while he's in them, but he moves super quick between them so I even though I cant tell where he is, I've barely been able to hit him. Any hits I've gotten in have been more luck then anything. I throw where he has to leave from. But thats one attacks for the ten he throws at me. And he keeps using senbon, which are really hard to deflect. Thank kami for practice,"

I nodded, I could try my best to help. I just had to figure out where he was going. If Naruto attacked where he left and I attacked before he hid, we had a chance to knock him out of his mirror. "Where is he now?" Naruto gestured towards the mirror directly in front of him. I eyed the mirror. It looked no different then any of the others, but if Naruto said this one contained the real Haku and not a reflection, I believed him.

" I wish we had Kage for a plan…" I silently agreed with Naruto's comment, but didn't respond trying to think for what to do. If he used ice, I used fire jutsu. I just needed to connect with him. "He's coming." Naruto tensed beside me.

If it hadn't been for the warning, I would've been hit with a lot more senbon. As it was, I couldn't dodge them all ad neither could Naruto. As soon as we had a moments respite form the barrage of attacks, Naruto and I yanked them out, just like we had when Kakashi sensei had thrown them at us. It still hurt a ton.

"Give up. I fight for my precious person and while I don't want to hurt you, I will not lose." Naruto and I were facing a different mirror now, with me following Naruto's lead.

"I told you before! The people need this bridge! I wont let you hurt that old man!" I nodded along with Naruto.

Naruto didn't have time to verbally warn me this time, but I noticed his tensing. He launched some kunai and shuriken at the mirror as I jumped back, forming the Great Fireball hand signs and looked up, aiming for where I guessed the other ninja would have to pass by.

"I missed…" I murmured, not sure how I knew when he moved almost too quickly to see but positive nonetheless.  
"SASUKE! Are you alright teme?" I glanced down. Shit that was a lot of senbon to take just to launch one jutsu. I winced, pulling them out, but didn't finished before again, we were being attacked. I took advantage of the attack, again moving to do the Katon technique. 'Another miss…'

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu! Sasuke! Do you have a plan?" I looked up form pulling out the senbon towards the two blondes eyeing me.

"Not really a plan? More just a feeling. " I was slightly sheepish. This was _not_ how the academy taught you who to do things, but I felt like my eyes had been opened up today. Maybe it was because of the horrors I had seen ( _caused_ ) earlier. Maybe this guy was slacking with two people in his trap. Maybe I was getting used to seeing combat. I wasn't entirely sure what the right answer—if not all of them—was correct but I felt like I was on the brink of discovery.

"Alright then. My clones will protect you teme. Just like practice with sensei! We got this, Datebayo!" I nodded in agreement, and pulled out the last few senbon, started the hand seals for the fireball jutsu again. I could feel the fatigue from using my chakra; there probably wasn't much left anyway, probably only enough for another 3 or 4 of a decent size, but I couldn't be sure. I had never had as accurate a read on my chakra stores as sensei and Kage seemed to. Regardless, Naruto and I needed to handle this ninja.

Again Naruto said nothing aloud, instead allowing me to react to his body language, expressive as always. 'There!' I thought, seeing movement, back and forth and something made me turn slightly aiming for open air, and even though I was the one who aimed, part of me couldn't understand what made me so sure of the empty air I had aimed at.

"Ugh!." The masked nin jumped back, having darted right into the flames and then back out, clutching his injured arm, before darting into another mirror.

Naruto made two more clones, his previous one having being popped without my noticing. I eyed the mirror we had seen him hop into, something inside me eager. I could do this. He was definitely tired, moving dramatically slower and even after only two passes, I was guessing his patterns.

"Done already? I guess all that garbage in the woods about a precious person was just talk?" I taunted, trying to get him out of the mirror and out into the open where I could attack him. Kage had told me over cards she taunted people because 'Angry people move quicker, make more mistakes.' I was counting on it.

It worked. The masked ninja hopped out again and there were more senbon and Naruto was hopping around me like a deranged monkey, but I ignored him, because _yes he was slowing down and I could_ ** _see_ **_it._ And then I was launching another fireball jutsu at empty air, but it didn't stay empty for long and then the masked ninja was engulfed in flame before he fell to the ground, and hoped back.

Naruto gave a savage grin, launching himself at the man, who only a had a second to prepare himself before Naruto and his (greatly improved from the private lessons with myself and Kage) taijutsu were on him.

He must've been weakened because Naruto kicked him straight into a mirror and this time it cracked slightly, but didn't give. Naruto tried to use the make shift wall to pummel him, but after one too many of his well placed punches finally made the mirror gave and the masked ninja was flying backwards, shattered ice mirror all around. Zabuza and sensei burst apart, both of them eyeing the scene, Zabuza with shock and sensei with some surprise, but more then anything, smug assurance. I grinned back at him, turning towards Zabuza whose gaze flipped quickly from Haku to Naruto before landing on me and freezing.

"His own kekkai genkai, eh Kakashi? I thought all the Uchiha were dead." Sensei gave a casual glance at my direction, making eye contact then turning back to Zabuza and shrugging. I didn't have time to wonder what that was about.

"I told you. He's one of the best the leaf has to offer."

Naruto smacked into Haku again, who had to be suffering from a concussion or something at this point because he was no longer dodging well, instead almost seeming to stumble into Naruto's fists. I readied my kunai and my ninja wire, just like I had this morning, waiting for an opening I was sure Naruto could provide.

Naruto was taking his time, almost languidly beating the shit out of the other ninja. His stamina was unreal and something about finally having a chance to fight instead of having to dodge seemed to have given the blonde dobe a second wind. Still I wished he would hurry it up. I had been on edge for what felt like hours now, all the way back to my fight at the house. I just wanted it over. I felt like my energy was just pouring out of me this close to the end.

"Let's finish this Kakashi!" Yelled Zabuza, almost distracting me, but no: I focused, eyeing the fight, and again I felt it, I could see the pattern of Naruto's attacks as well (probably from practicing with him so much) and in-between his fists, there was the perfect spot to attack.

I threw my kunai at Naruto's shoulder, knowing that Naruto was going to bend over to kick Haku up in the air for one of his taijutsu combos. Sure enough, Naruto popped over, almost bent over sideways for the kick and my kunai his Haku right in the stomach. He immediately started bleeding, but Naruto ignored that and latched onto the string above him, just like we had practiced. While not yet expertly, Naruto quickly wrapped the tail of the ninja wire around ninja, trapping his arms to his side tightly. Kicking Haku behind his knees, he dropped to the ground on his side, trapped.

Kakashi also seemed to have stopped fighting Zabuza. Zabuza's attack must have failed, because they stood there sizing each other up, but Kakashi sensei clearly had the advantage, not having a whole in his stomach and all.

"Your disciple is down. Do you really want to continue this Zabuza? You're already halfway lost."

Zabuza looked like he was going to say something, but Naruto interrupted, pointing towards the mist a ways behind him and Haku.

"Sensei, theres more people coming!"  
Kakashi tensed. Surprisingly so did Zabuza. "How many?" Asked sensei.

"A lot …I think. They don't feel very strong…maybe?" Naruto seemed doubtful which was odd, but i still I turned to face the new threat.

All of us stood frozen on the bridge, eyeing the mist.

"They're not yours then?" Kakashi queried. A sharp shake of the head was all sensei received in return. We returned to tense silence. Finally it was interrupted by a sharp, 'tap tap tap', of someone walking with a cane or a peg leg.

The cane hypothesis turned out to be right as a short ugly man stepped forward, surrounded by a bunch of thugs. I doubted any of them were ninjas, or of they were, no higher then academy dropouts. It made sense considering Naruto wasn't used to sensing weak opponents; the signatures probably threw him off.

"Is this what I pay you for Zabuza? You and your brat here? You have the nerve to break my arm and you can't even kill one old man?" Zabuza let out a slight growl and from where I stood I shivered, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. I have no idea how the man continued talking with Zabuza's glare fixed on him.I was shaking from just seeing it secondhand.

"We'll its alright. I didn't plan on paying you anyway. And now that everyone here is exhausted." He motioned with the hand not holding the cane. "My men here will take care of cleaning up for you. This is how you do business. You knock out all the competition and you don't pay for a waste of space like you bullshit ninja."

The thugs all cheered but the rest of stayed silent. I wondered if the men I had killed earlier had also been bullshit ninja, or expendable, just like one of these thugs. If they weren't ninja, they wouldn't last very long. Even if they were, with the ki Zabuza was giving off, I was still doubtful.

"Would I be correct in assuming that is Gato, the under ground ruler of this country?" Kage spoke up, surprising me. I had forgotten she was even on the bridge; her presence was so forgettable sometimes.

"Yes." Said Haku from his place on the ground when Zabuza didn't respond.

"Wellllllll…" and even Sensei turned from the missing nin he had been facing to eye the petite girl. Whenever she had that tone of voice, you could be sure she was up to something. "If he's not going to pay you, wouldn't your mission be over then? And our mission is only hampered by Gato's existance. So I don't think any leaf ninja on this bridge would have an issue with you getting some well deserved revenge. After all, if Gato is dead, our mission to protect Tazuna only becomes easier."

Everyone stilled, and even the thugs quieted down. "What are you saying brat? You think you can still fight me and win? After all the fighting you've done here?"

Naruto also spoke up, strangely hesitant but firm at the same time. "Kage we cant just let them kill him…It's not right."

My demented teammate shook her head and gave Gato a brilliant smile, looking as innocent as she always did before she said something incisive. I wasn't disappointed. "Oh don't worry sir. I'm not going to attack you! I just think the man who is being stiffed on his pay after getting a _fucking hole blown through his stomach_ just might take issue with you." She was one step from fluttering her eye lashes at the criminal over lord. "And Naruto, this man is the reason Inari doesn't have a dad. This man is the reason every one of the bridgework's was attacked this morning. This piece of shit is the reason this country is falling apart. Death is a kindest thing we can offer him. Let's let Haku-san and Zabuza-san sort out their own business, hmm?" Kakashi sensei didn't disagree with her and I nudged Naruto. He jerked back then met my gaze. I nodded towards Haku motioning for Naruto to help him up.

"Kakashi, I think your brat makes an excellent point. I have no personal quarrel with you."  
"What?! WHAT?!" Gato was freaking out, moving back, trying to meld in between the wall of thugs he had brought with him, but they too stepped back under Zabuza's savage glare and directed killing intent. Gato ended up right in front of the thugs, cowering before Zabuza. "You can't just get over it! You were fighting to kill each other!"

Kakashi sensei answered for Zabuza. "That's the way of us 'bullshit' ninja. We complete our missions without complaint. But that doesn't mean I'm going to hold a grudge." he turned to Zabuza. "Best of luck. Your old boss kind of seems like an asshole, but I'm sure you can work it out." he gave a slight eye crinkle while Kage snickered at the stupid joke that was barely a joke.

"I think we'll manage just fine." Haku moved from where Naruto had released him to stand unsteadily by Zabuza's side.

What followed was a minor bloodbath, but I didn't quite remember all of it. I was pretty sure I saw a demon appear and launch himself at the thugs. I also thought maybe there was snow, and the snow was red like blood. But I wasn't sure because after eyeing the rest of the bridge and seeing my team alive and safe, I finally let myself relax, falling into a dead faint from over use of chakra. It was worth it though. They weren't going to leave me like all my other precious people.


	12. Chapter 12

Definitely a few hours late on delivering this chapter. My bad! Laptop is still broken. But anyway here it is! Finally back in Konoha and I swear ( I know I keep saying this but I really do mean it) we're almost done with cannon rehash. Thanks for the helpful reviews about spelling and grammar! Always great to hear feedback. Let me know what you think of this, if you have any questions or if you don't understand something!

~Line break~

Even though I was lazy and averse to work, it was through no fault of my own that we left Wave a week late. The fault for that lays solely at sensei's feet. He'd kept up the rotating schedule for training which meant that Tazuna could only rely on Naruto's mass army of shadow clones for menial labor every other day instead of every day. I had been switched into the training rotation as well; with no imminent threat of a missing ninja attacking us, Kakashi found that 1 on and 2 off training worked well enough for his plans. Our remaining time in Wave was spent improving on dodging (Naruto), Working on chakra control (Sasuke), or working on bringing up stamina (me).

When the bridge was finally completed, I was grateful to finally see the last of Wave. Because of our over staying the mission, we had ended up living out of Tazuna's home for over a month. I had packed the most sets of clothing, and even I was fed up with rotating out the same three shirts. Naruto and Sasuke were similarly put out; when Naruto had objected to continuing the dodging lessons because he no longer had any clothes that _didn't_ have a hole in them, Sensei had merely smiled and held up a thread and needle. I have no idea from where because one second his hands were empty and the next, he looked ready to begin an embroidery lesson with an already threaded needle. The end result was a very patchwork looking Naruto and a very disgruntled looking Sasuke.

Of course even when we finally left, Sensei couldn't make life easy for us.

"Can't we just walk home?" I complained outlaid for once, very vocal in my annoyance.

"No. We've been walking. You guys are slow. So we're going to take a break and learn how to tree walk." Kakashi huffed. If I didn't know him any better, I would've said he was annoyed with our pace. As it was, I did know him, at least a little bit by now, and he was clearly getting enjoyment out of his continued torture. I mean, training.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, confirmed their horror and turned to me for help. But with sensei's announcement, I smirked, dropped my pack to the floor.

"Don't look at me. I learned how to tree walk earlier this year. My dad showed me; said I had to practice chakra control exercises before I could do medical ninjutsu." (I still struggled with unconscious water walking, but we were the village hidden in the leaves, not the mist. I could hold off on mastering water walking for a little while longer.)

I found comfortably shady spot under the trees and hunkered down for a nap. Falling asleep to the sounds of children yelling out in pain and annoyance was relaxing; it brought back heavy nostalgia of my orphanage days and I fell asleep with a small smile.

~Linebreak~

Sensei's 'short break' ended up taking a full 2 days: he wanted to be sure Naruto and Sasuke understood the principles behind tree walking. The first day, I napped, okay with taking what had been classified as a 'short break'. The second day, when I started getting annoyed at their slow pace, I alternated between shouting insults and helpful advice disguised as insults.

"You're both pathetic. Honestly it doesn't matter who gets their first; you're competing for dead last and second to last."

"Oi Naruto are you a civilian or a ninja? Use some chakra!"

"Naruto, you should stop avoiding falling on your head. Maybe it'll knock some more sense into you."

"Hey emo, I can't tell how mad at the world you are; use _more_ chakra why don't you."

Kakashi kindly didn't tell me to stop and even threw in a few of his own (not so)helpful comments.

Shooting sensei and I glares the entire time, by the morning of the third day two boy were wobbly, but they'd gotten the basics down. Kakashi expanded further on the impromptu lesson.

"Maa, like I said, you guys walk really slow. So we're going to expand on chakra cycling. You should've learned the basics in the academy." He spoke louder to drown out Naruto's question 'what is that?'. "WHAT IT IS—brat shut it. I'm explaining it right now!—What it is is just channeling chakra constantly through your muscles. You use it to increase your stamina, energy, strength, all that stuff. In your taijutsu spars, I've noticed you all already do this. For you Naruto, it's probably unconscious. Sasuke…Maa, also probably unconscious. Kage-chan you do it on purpose, right?" He eye smiled at me.

I nodded my head in lazy affirmation. I wouldn't be anywhere near as strong or have as much endurance without chakra. I probably wouldn't be able to lift my current leg weights without my chakra augmented muscles. Once, when I had tried racing Shisui without chakra, I had only managed a couple miles before puttering out, exhausted. He'd laughed the entire time he'd dragged me home.

"I want you to combine chakra cycling with tree walking." Kakashi continued "That gives you the normal method that Konoha shinobi travel through the woods. Now up you go!" He started walking up the nearest tree. I reluctantly rose from my comfy position on the ground, shrugging on my pack and following him. I didn't want to get left behind. Both boys eagerly raced up the tree while I continued up at a much more sedate pace. Once we were all at the top of the tree standing on a thick branch, Kakashi continued talking:

"We're going to be jumping from branch to branch. You need to cycle chakra to your muscles for the jump, and then you need to release chakra from your feet before you land on the branches. Same concept as before; too much chakra and you go flying to far. Too little chakra and you wont stick to the tree you're trying to land on. Good luck!" A patronizing eye smile later and then the three of us were chasing after him.

Sensei had a very hands off training policy. He didn't bother to explain any of the intricacies of the tree running technique. It wasn't just a simple step up form tree walking; this was combing two totally different chakra techniques and using them like second nature. It was like trying to whistle while breathing in; possible but very difficult and probably requiring more explanation then 'good luck'. That didn't stop Naruto and Sasuke from both flying off. Just like sensei had predicted, Sasuke used continued to use more chakra then necessary. He was flinging himself into tree branches and tree trunks. He needed to cycle less chakra into his muscles on the jump and less out of his feet when he landed. Still, it looked comically painful, but I didn't have the breath to laugh at him. While, continuous cycling of chakra done consciously took effort, but was nothing new to me. Switching between cycling chakra and exerting chakra through my feet? Much more mental effort and physical strain. And because I had small chakra stores, I needed to make sure I was being precise in my chakra utilization. That further complicated the task before me. Still, it was better then slipping from the branches and to the forest floor which kept happening to Naruto from his lack of chakra usage.

In the end, as usual with Kakashi sensei's madness, I couldn't argue with results. It had been a four day walk to reach Tazuna's home. The way back? We'd walked for two days until we were well within Fire Country, and then, discounting our training break, it'd only taken us a day to finish the trek. Exhausted and irritable, we arrived at the looming gates of our village, a day earlier then we would've if we kept walking.

The ninja at the gates ribbed us, but none of us reacted to their gentle teasing, bar a few glares from Sasuke. I was too exhausted to get in a fight with friendly chunin who thought that "The little genin are so cute."

Sensei ignored them as well. He'd had his nose shoved in a book the entire way back and he hadn't looked up from it to acknowledge the village guards. (I marveled again at how _lucky_ we'd been to get Kakashi sensei as our jonin sensei. He made being a ninja seem effortless. As someone learning to be a ninja, I wondered how long it had taken him to achieve such fluid prowess with his skills. And how much longer it had taken him to become so unassuming) Once they finished teasing us, (and validating out identities) the chunin let us into the village and we followed Kakashi sensei towards the Hokage tower. I trudged along, slumped in my distinctive walk, however today wasn't for show as my muscles ached. Naruto seemed to have regained his boundless energy now that we were finally out of the endless forest that made up Fire Country.

Sasuke kept his head ducked, hiding his bruises and scrapes from his collisions with the trees. I nudged his arm with my shoulder. "I would heal them if I had the chakra left…"

He gave a stiff nod in acknowledgment and I left it at that. Naruto was chattering in sensei's ear about something and I listened to him prattle on while allowing the comfortably familiar village to ease my homesickness. We eased through the winding streets and I noticed that most ninja moving towards the tower were hoping roof to roof. I shivered grateful that while our sensei was a sadist he wasn't so cruel as to continue the tree running exercise on the roofs. (or maybe he didn't want to deal with the property damage that a still struggling-to-regulate-chakra Sasuke might cause to the poor roofs.)

"SO WHATS OUR NEXT MISSION GOING TO BE? CAN WE DO ANOTHER C RANK, BUT THIS TIME I'LL SAVE A PRINCESS, DATEBAYO!"

"NO!" Sasuke spoke up. "Just—no. A few D rank for a week? So that we can enjoy being back in the village?" he looked at me pleading and pointed with his desperate eyes at Naruto. Clearly emo needed a break from demon boy. Fortunately for Sasuke, I agreed.

"Sensei, I'd rather do a few D rank instead of back to back C rank. I need time to recover form all the chakra I've lost. Also I want to spend some time in the village too…"

Naruto, bless him, didn't look the slightest bit betrayed. Instead he latched onto the idea of being back in the village. "I wonder how everyones doing? Ya know from our graduating class. Kiba wanted to be Hokage too… I wonder how far he's gotten since we've been gone…"

Sensei ignored our rambling and kept reading his book. (I didn't think he'd want to take another mission right away, but I figured we had head off Naruto early, before he got too excited.)Thankfully, while Naruto had continued his mumblings, we had arrived at the tower and could finally be done with this mission. I mentally sighed in relief. (This mission was way too much excitement. I wanted simple easy missions from now on. Nothing too difficult.)

Reporting in from a mission was nothing too difficult. We'd done it tons of times for our D-rank missions. However, because Kakashi sensei had been upgraded the rank mid-mission from a C rank to an A rank, instead of just verbally reporting in at the missions desk, we were all required to now submit a written report each. I scowled at Sensei. He sighed and patted my head in commiseration. I relented a bit. No one on our team liked paperwork, so if it was avoidable, we probably would've avoided it. Not surprisingly Kakashi didn't pickup another D rank to finish the day with; Besides our exhaustion, it was already late evening and the sun was going to set soon. He let us go after telling us to meet at training ground 3 the next morning.

"Bring paper and ink. We'll just do the reports before we continue training." We all quickly agreed, breaking up to g to our respective homes.

~Line break~

We fell into a comfortable routine once we were back in the village. Kakashi sensei kept up a very hands off approach to training—sure he physically helped us train by throwing stuff at us, but he only trained us when we put the effort into learning. Usually he just augmented lessons by making them teach us more then one thing. With Naruto finally done asking sensei to show him flashy jutsu, he was instead focusing on the basics. Sasuke too continued working on his chakra regulation and control, like in Wave, but also worked on his genjutsu and speed with seals. I ambled through training, working on my stamina and endurance. Kakashi also forced me to practice my sparring, often one on one with him. I simultaneously hated and loved those days more then the other practice days. (None of this was unusual for a team training. No, what made sensei such a hard ass and a good jonin sensei was his refusal to live in the box that normal society thought in.) Kakashi sensei managed to combine all our individual efforts and turned it into training as a team. His creativity was annoying at times. He forced us to work on our water walking, but we all had to be holding hands. We continued tree running, but we had to play leapfrog while doing it. Things that didn't directly involve him in training, but undoubtedly would help us improve if we took the lessons to heart. Our teamwork improved tremendously with the exercises and so instead of complaining (too much), we put up with every detestable practice he dreamed up.

And as our teamwork did grew so did our slight friendship; we went out for food after practices and missions. Sasuke had finally cracked after the forth day in a row of ramen and had forced the three of us to an inviting Akimichi restaurant just outside the Hokage Tower. (He had been dragging Naruto and had missed the dirty looks shot at Naruto. I simply gave a brilliant smile and demanded a table for three. We hadn't had any issues since.) I had doubled down with Sasuke and invited my team over for dinner with my family rather then stomach more ramen. Sensei was always invited as well, but he usually disappeared before we could force him along with us. The rare times he joined us, we all eyed him, trying to see his face. (I had seen it in my past life and it was a good looking face. I wished he'd show it of to the village) It was a peaceful time. Our team actually enjoyed each others company and life was progressing smoothly.

Of course it wasn't going to last.

I found out about the chunin exams when I was meeting up with Sakura one weekend. In the month I had been gone to Wave, she had far surpassed my skill with medical ninjutsu even though I had begun learning before her. In just the month I had been back, she had taken to teaching me what she'd already managed. Fortunately, I was happy with the arrangement; her teaching me just meant more mastery over the subject. And my learning from her just meant a more individualized lesson. Sakura had already moved past what she taught me: mending broken bones and healing torn muscles. She was beginning to delve into recreation of dismembered flesh; she might've been able to help Zabuza if she'd been in Wave with us. Her skill with healing was well beyond genin level. (In fact, it skirted past chunin and dangerously into mastery of medic ninjutsu territory. I wondered how she had first met her blonde haired teacher. Very soon she was going to need a dedicated sensei with high level techniques to show her father then just books.)

"I'm surprised we've been able to meet up so regularly. You would think two genin teams would be busy with missions." I hadn't seen Shika in a week; he should be coming home from his mission in a few days. (I also had only seen Shisui in passing, preparing to leave for a long term mission in tea country, but I forced myself to not think about that.)

"Oh, of course not! Sensei is a jonin; he's been asked to not leave the village unless necessary."

I straightened up. "Why not? What's going on in the village?"

Sakura looked at me surprised. "Haven't you heard by now? We're hosting the chunin exams. Not that we don't trust the other villages but…Sensei said its best to keep the jonin in the village just in case of any issues. So my whole team is stuck inside Konoha. Sensei doesn't even want to take a C rank. Isn't that why your team is only doing D ranks?" She moved to close her textbooks. I glanced at the sky. It was getting late and we would be wrapping up our meeting soon, but I needed to pump her for information first.

"Huh, I must've forgotten. Lucky thing I'm a rookie. No chance at going in the tournament even though its based here. What about you? Your sensei insane enough to recommend your team?" I tried to sound nonchalant and I think I succeeded. I hoped for my friends sake she wasn't being recommended. While most people our age aspired to be chunin, the test was dangerous and often resulted in numerous wouldn't be quite so deadly being hosted in Konoha, but I still wanted her to have more experience and practice before she went out for the test. (I thought it would be another year or so before sensei recommended team seven after all and I thought we were pretty good.) Sakura paused in her packing, frowning.

"No, I don't think so…All of us are progressing pretty well in our practices, but…It doesn't really feel like a team, ya know?" I blinked at that, shaking my head. She stayed quiet, but I waited for her to expand on the comment.

"It's just…Sometimes it feels like we're three students who meet up for a study group and practice spars. I don't think teams are supposed to feel like that. Like three people that happen to meet up to practice and then go home."

I hesitated to respond. I _didn't_ understand that feeling. Maybe in the beginning, but….No definitely after Wave, but even before then, and with all the practices we'd done together, I felt like I _knew_ my teammates. Sure, I'd been friends with Naruto before, but now I felt closer to him in some inexplicable way. I couldn't quite explain it. Because even though Sasuke continued his glares, Naruto was still loud and obnoxious, and I was an unrepentant asshole, constantly shooting out snarky and sarcastic comments, our arguments didn't feel like they had the same bite anymore.

"They feel like family." I said out loud for Sakura and my own benefit. She snapped her head at me surprised. I continued, feeling the need to clarify. "Not like how Shikamaru is my brother. But kind of like that? Like no one could replace Shika…but I don't think anyone could replace Naruto or Sasuke either?" I winced. I wasn't explaining this very well.

"It's okay Kage-chan." Sakura said softly with a small smile. "I think your placement for teams was very well done. I have always admired Sasuke-kun, but I don't think I could've fit in a team with him and Naruto as well as you have."

She quickly finished packing her things and I watched her hasty departure. I collapsed back into the seat, fighting the slightly hysterical laugh that threatened to surface. ('Sakura has no idea. If I wasn't here, she would've been on this team. She would've had the family I just described. She wouldve—') I sit down that train of thought and forced myself to stand up, collecting my books into a neat organized pile. I packed everything up, and turned to walk home. I couldn't stand here and obsess with what ifs. I just had to keep moving forward.

~line break~

After meeting with Sakura, I actually looked around the village, instead of shuffling along aimlessly. I don't know how I could have been so blind. Clearly, the village was gearing up for something. The stalls were repainted; new awnings hung in front of them all. The merchants were excitedly receiving new shipment. The amount of ninja strolling the streets was higher then normal (Which should've been the first thing I noticed; why would we have so many ninja in the village instead of out on missions?) I fixed myself up, pulling my hair out of its customary pony tail and shaking to loose. I swung both straps go my book bag over my shoulder and removed my head protector.

"Excuse me sir," I politely inquired to a ninja supply stall owner. I recognized him from his shop a few streets over; the stall must be to grab any walking tourists. "I heard that the chunin exams are being held by Konoha. How soon are they? I want to ask my mom to take me to watch…"

The man beamed at me, "Of course little girl! Konoha is hosting the tournament for the first time in years! The exam part begins in just a week, but it's the tournament part that you're going to want to see. The finals are going to be held in the colosseum in the western edge of the village, by the Kento district. That is what has the village so excited! There's going to be so much business!" He rubbed his hands together in excitement, but I tugged on his shirt, still acting the part of curious kid, my head upturned to his face, grateful for my short stature.

"When is the tournament? Will I get to see leaf ninja fight?" The man chucked and ruffled my hair. (I tried not to let my annoyance show. I hardly knew this guy, and he's being overly friendly albeit to a kid. It was weird.)

"Of course you're going to see leaf ninja! Konoha is the strongest of the 5 great villages of course. Why else would we live here?" He shot me a relaxed smile. "And the tournament is one month from Friday, so you better ask your parents now if you want them to take you. Tickets are going on sale soon, and from what I've heard, they're going to sell out quickly." I thanked him and hurried off.

I pulled the same act to a stall owner a few streets away, but got the same information. Speaking to a passing ninja let me know even less then the two stall owners, but that was to be expected. Any ninja not named Naruto was naturally more tightlipped then necessary.

All my information gathering was making me more and more nervous. I made my way though the busy streets of Konoha and wondered what was going on. 'Why wouldn't sensei have mentioned this to us?' It could've been a test; he might've wanted to see how well we paid attention to our surroundings. Of perhaps he just didn't feel like brining it up. Maybe he thought we already knew; Kakashi was the opposite of superfluous. If he thought we already knew, there was no point in saying it twice.

I brushed off my uneasy feeling and continued training. My anxiety only raised when I began to notice sensei ease up on our training towards the end of the week. Not obviously of course, but slightly enough that when we went out to eat after practices, we still had energy to jump around and make closer we drew to Friday, the easier he seemed to make it for us. I thought maybe it was my paranoia, so before practice Thursday, the day before the exam's start, I spoke up.

"Sorry to interrupt Kakashi sensei—I can see that you have something to say, but I just want to check." I gave a shaky laugh. "I know I'm probably going to seem crazy, because _come on,_ right, but I've hard some rumors about a chunin exam and I was wondering if you were planning on enrolling us…" I trailed off at his wide eye innocent look.

" _What the fuck, sensei!"_ I hissed at the man. Sasuke was looking form sensei to me vaguely alarmed and Naruto just looked curious.

"Ah—team I have an announcement to make today." Sensei spoke up as if I hadn't said anything at all. I glared at him. "I have here," he reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out three once official looking papers. They were now crinkled and slightly torn from being shoved in his pocket. "Your chunin exam participation forms! I've recommended you three!" Naruto and I both looked like we were going to say something, because Sasuke elbowed both of us into silence.

"If you want to participate, you'll just need to show up at the academy tomorrow. 11 am. There's information on the back of the form. Don't be late!" He dropped the papers and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke snatched the three papers out of the air and turned to look at me and Naruto. I still held an ugly scowl on my face.

"I don't wanna do it."

"I wanna do it! CHUNIN DATEBAYO!"

Sasuke looked vaguely amused. "We'll I guess you're going to be the last person on the team to make chunin then Kage." Naruto shook his head vigorously.

"No! Kage-chan, you have to join with us! We work best as a team! You said it before! We're 10 times stronger together then apart."

I chucked mirthlessly. "I said I didn't want to do it, not that I wouldn't. I first heard about this test a week ago. In that time I heard more then sensei thought to tell us. Like teams have to compete in cells of three. Which means if I don't go, neither do you." Sasuke tensed.

"Why wouldn't sensei just tell us that?" Naruto asked cluelessly.

"He was probably testing our teamwork. You know how he is with that." I nodded in agreement with Sasuke's assessment. "Which means we all either pass together or fail together."

"If we're doing the test, we all pass." I spoke firmly. The two boys looked at me surprised to hear my conviction. I explained, "The test is supposed to be really hard. A pain in the ass. I don't want to have to do all this over again. We do it this time and we all become chunnin. Or I'm just going to stay a life-genin." Naruto blanched at the idea of a lifetime genin but Sasuke nodded thoughtfully.

"We can do this. Let's meet up tomorrow at 9. We should find out as much about the exam as possible today and then we should compare notes tomorrow."

"And packs" I added. "I heard a rumor that theres a survival portion in every chunin exam. We're lucky this one is in Konoha so we generally know the conditions we're gong to be up against, but we ought to bring all our survival stuff with us to the academy tomorrow, just in case."

Both boys gave sharp nods. I continued though, not quite finished with my assessment. "I'm going to run to the ninja district shops. I wanted to grab some extra supplies. Let me know what you guys need. I'll grab it and you can pay me back. I'm also going to get some more ration bars and some chlorine tabs for us." The boys looked at me blankly. (Shit were they called chlorine tabs in Japanese? It'd been a while since I'd made an English blunder. I played it off like my teammates were just clueless.) "You know, water purification tablets." Their faces cleared up and Sasuke added that he needed more ninja wire and

"I could use more trapping supplies. Should I just go with you?" I shook my head at Naruto's request.

"See if Iruka sensei can help you pack again. He's a chunin in the village, so maybe he will take some pity on you and help you pack supplies necessary for the survival training." Naruto gave me a big smile and two thumbs up before hurrying off. I waved goodbye to Sasuke, who seemed to be lost in his own world, and also departed.

I first headed to the shinobi district. Just outside of the residential portion of the district, was the ninja shops. The wares here were generally more expensive, but undeniably better quality then the general weapons shops in the central portion of the village. This was where Shisui had taken me for my first set of weights.

I flounced from shop to shop, picking up ninja wire, ration bars, flares, chlorine tabs, a medical supply kit, some extra first aid supplies because my team had very bad luck, three extra sets of sharp kunai and shuriken each, some exploding tags, smoke bombs, stink bombs, and extra thin wire. I politely turned down the shop owners suggestion of chakra pills. I would get any pills, herbs and medicines from my family stores.

I hesitated by the clothing store, but eventually decided to pick up the mesh wire shirts for my teammates. They might chose to not wear them, but I figured every advantage would help them.

Satisfied with my purchases, I headed home. I passed a few curious faces on the way home. Some were my fellow ninja, wondering why a Nara was carrying so many bags. Others were foreign ninja, wondering if I was their competition.

To the first group, I gave a small smile and a lackadaisical shrug of my shoulders. The second set received a slight grin and cold eye. I wasn't just their competition; I was _the_ competition. While I had no interest in being thrown in this exam, I was going to pass. That much was certain. Sensei was a smart man; he would never have nominated his team if he didn't know the rest of the competition. The fact that he still did meant he thought we surpassed them.

So perhaps my cold eyes and slight grin looked just a little bloodthirsty when I eyed the foreign ninja. I blamed sensei's training.

~Line break~

The next morning I was up early (for me) and was unsurprised to find Shika also awake. He made eye contact with me and motioned towards my half packed bag. I nodded. He sighed.

"What a drag."

"It's pretty bothersome."

"Only the once though."

"I agree."

"We'll talk later?"

"Sure."  
No more words needed to be said. We each gave a goodbye hug to mom and then walked each other out of the compound. Shika went right (towards the Akimichi compound) and I went left (towards training field 3, where I would find my teammates)

I was the first person there, which didn't surprise me. I was a bundle of nerves. I knew I would be fine once the test began, but for now I was running through possible scenarios and trying to plan for every situation. I had hardly been able to sleep last night.

Sasuke arrived next. He gave me a slight Hmm and then joined me on the ground to wait for Naruto. When he finally arrived, he joined us on the ground crosslegged, forming a circle.

I passed Naruto the thin wire (better then ninja wire for pranks and traps because it snapped easier) and the rest of his supplies. I did the same of Sasuke. I split the tabs equally among us and tossed each boy a sealed scroll. "The scroll is full of ration bars. I heard the last part of the exam is in a month, so I want to make sure we have enough food to supply us until then."

Naruto paled. "You think the test is going to be a month long?"

I shrugged. Sasuke answered instead, "I heard the tournament is in a monht, and one month isn't too crazy for survival amongst three people. We would just have to stay hidden. It's a reasonable assumption dobe."

"Well Iruka-sensei didn't have me pack a months worth of stuff. He also didn't tell me anything. He did help me pack the standard stuff. He called it the 'standard pack'. It actually kind of looks like it did before the academy survival test…" Sasuke and I both nodded in remembrance. So theta meant the test was probably in the woods and involved general survival tactics. Konoha ninja had the home advantage. I turned to Sasuke.

"What else did you hear?" I asked curiously. I hadn't heard too much about the exam in detail because no one wanted to give gory details to a little girl. Clearly they didn't have that problem with Sasuke.

"Good chance of death; lots of people don't pass because one of their teammates die." Sasuke shot us both a glare. "You're not allowed to die. We all pass or we all fail. Got it?" I gave a thumbs up, waiting for him to continue.

"I also heard the format is usually three or four parts. Usually a written portion to weed to the stupid, a physical portion to weed out the weak, a survival portion to get rid of the people who cant work in teams, and then a tournament portion to sort through the left overs."

"Ouch, that's a pretty harsh way of looking at it." I raised an eye brow at him. Sasuke flushed.

"That's just what I was told! It makes sense though. When I heard about the format of the exam, I wasn't worried about us. Not too much anyway. The written portion shouldn't be a problem for us, but…" He turned to look at Naruto. I paused, considering.

"Don't worry about me, datebayo." Naruto gave a weak chuckle. I saw through his forced nonchalance at once. While now a very good friend, Naruto was a shitty liar. "I've been studying. And nothing can hold me back. I'm going to be—"  
"Calm down idiot." I sighed. "I'll probably be able to finish any test early. Hopefully it's the same version of the test for everyone. Once I'm done, I'll just use shadow imitation to copy my answers on your test." Naruto brightened up at once. "but please don't fight it. In fact, it might be easier if you go to sleep. I don't want to waste chakra on you fighting me." He nodded in agreement.

"Fall asleep. Got it!" Sasuke stifled a smile at Naruto's cheery acceptance of my plan.

"I think we'll all be fine on the rest of the parts. With Kakashi sensei's lessons, we've all improved pretty dramatically. And we also have each other as backup if worse comes to worse." My teammates nodded in agreement. I looked up at the sun. We'd wasted enough time exchanging supplies, so I hesitantly pulled out the mesh shirts.

"I got these for you guys. You don't need to wear it, but if you do its a bit of extra protection." Naruto gave a huge grin and unzipped his jacket. I smiled at his eagerness and tossed Sasuke his shirt. He sniffed in disdain, but also removed his shirt to toss on the light armor. Naruto was wearing a black tee shirt over it so just the edges of the of mesh showing under his collar and his shirt sleeves. Sasuke's wire shirt didn't show at all. I nodded at Naruto.

"You ought to keep our jacket off for the survival portion. You're not as conspicuous in just a T shirt, and everyone will be looking for orange not black. And trust me they will notice the orange during the first part." He nodded along, always ready to agree with me.

Sasuke stood up. "Time to go. We've got an exam to begin." I nodded in agreement, grabbing my bag and also moving to stand.

"If we don't want to stand out, should we all try to look really…I don't know….not very good?" Naruto suggested as we started walking to the academy.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to sleep through the written portion of the exam. I don't know how else we can make ourselves seem clueless. But i guess lets try not to show off? We also don't want to look to bad because then we'll be targets for being weak. We want to seem average…unassuming."

Sasuke agreed with a quiet hmm.

Naruto grinned at me, "Okay! We won't show off. 'Be careful of the tall grass, because there are snakes lurking underneath!'" I shot him a look.

"Did you just quote me?"

"You're very quotable." Sasuke teased. I sputtered. Half the stuff I said was plagiarizing from a past life! I had quoted Albus Dumbledore and Eddard Stark to them!

"You cant quote me! It's not right!"

"Stop getting so mad. After all 'Angry people make stupid mistakes.'" Sasuke quipped. Naruto guffawed. My tensions were dissolving the longer I spent with my team. We made our way to the academy like this, filled with laughter.

We walked in through the side entrance, following the instructions on the back of our referral forms to room 301. The fastest way was through one of the side entrances because they led directly into the stairwells. The front entrances would lead into the main hall which I was sure would be packed with people. Naruto had wanted to go through and make an entrance, but I reminded him about staying under the radar. With his assent, we quickly made our way up the side stairs with no interruptions and no other ninja. (Which actually stood out as fairly odd. I would've expected some ninja to be watching the participants arrival for foul play.)

"Hey Naruto," I asked quietly. "Do you _notice_ anyone around us?"

He got the hint and kept his voice quiet as well. "There's people watching the stairwells. They chunin level, but they didn't make any moves to stop us so I ignored them." I nodded my head.

"The exams already begun then. They're already watching the combatants on arrival. Be careful from now on. Naruto, even if someone looks like us, check that our chakra feels the same. If we split up from here on out, double check our identities when we reconvene. And from here on out, we trust only each other completely. My brother's team is also in the exam, but I'd still rather we didn't rely on anyone else. Only in an emergency. But I also don't want to fight them if we can avoid them. Lets just act like they don't exist unless they need help."

"Got it." "Hng" That was enough agreement for me. I'd have to let Shika know.

I pushed open the door from the stair well and walked down the hall towards room 301 trailing after Naruto who liked to take the lead. Sensei stood outside the room, waiting for us. "I see all my cute little genin decided to show up for the exams!"

"No thanks to you! You didn't tell us we all had to come!" Naruto accused sensei. Kakashi just eye smiled at us innocently. His face was betrayed by his serious voice.

"And here you all are. Be careful from here on out. This exam can be deadly. But I have faith in my team. Look out for each other and you'll do fine." He ruffled our hair. "Good luck team seven!" Sasuke glared at sensei, but was gentle when he pushed past him. Naruto grinned at sensei and followed Sasuke into the room. Sensei gave me a look and I sighed. This was such bullshit. All I wanted was a simple year as a genin. Not too much work, no real responsibility. So far my only 'real mission' had been a freaking A rank. And now here I was, a rookie taking the chunin exam.

I followed my team into the room.

It was packed with other ninja. Not all of them were our age either. Most of the ninja here were actually older then us. I scanned the room and saw Ino's platinum blonde hair. I nudged Naruto and pointed with my chin towards team 10. He excitedly dragged me and Sasuke over to the InoShikaCho team.

"Hi guys! Are you excited to become chunin, datebayo?" Naruto had his indoor voice on, thankfully. I wasn't interested in drawing any extra attention to ourselves, not yet anyway. I'd need some way to channel that to our interests.

"You guys are part of the exams too?" Ino sounded surprised. "I thought just our sensei was crazy enough to recommend three rookies." I shook my head in agreement. Rookies in an exam like this were going to be targeted by all everyone.

"I guess it makes sense to have more then one group of rookies in the exams. It's troublesome but we can look out for one another." Shika gave me a searching look. I glanced at my teammates then spoke carefully.

"Of course I would look after Leaf ninja. Especially my cohorts from the academy." Shikamaru nodded. I had given him enough to work with.

"Team 8 is here too!" Ino said excitedly. I looked towards the door. Sure enough, Kiba, Shino and Hinata were walking in.

"I wonder is team 9 is competing. Last I heard from Sakura, they weren't but then, neither was I…"

Shika shook his head at my thoughts.

"Our three rookie teams have the highest chances of success. The village is also trying to show off our clans and geniuses. They wouldn't recommend a civilian made team when they have three teams of all clan heirs and prodigies." I nodded my head thoughtfully. It was a shame, but I knew Sakura would overcome the civilian prejudice that she faced in the ninja world. She was an amazing medic and would also become an amazing ninja.

Shika nudged me slightly to the side, while the rest of the group moved to greet team 8.

"I spoke to my team; I don't want an alliance. I;m sure you don't either. Too much work. I'm looking for more a partnership. Just an agreement of nonaggression. Perhaps a little more so, a promise to help if we see the other team in danger."

I nodded in agreement. "I mentioned it to my team. We're working together, and we don't plan on relying on any other teams…but nonaggression and a promise to help if we notice your team in need…or team 8 for that matter…thats do able." Shika nodded satisfied with my answer once again.

"Don't worry brother. We've got this. Just the one exam, remember?"

He gave me a grim smile. "I hope so."

There wasn't anything else to say to that so I didn't. Instead we merged back into the group. Sasuke shot me a look, but I just shrugged. It was exactly what I had expected. Shika and I were siblings, so of course we wouldn't want to fight in an exam like this. Choji and Ino were like family; I didn't want to be pinned with them either. And I was a little soft hearted, but I also didn't want to fight with team 8 either. There were dozens of teams in the room. I figured we could safely avoid fighting with two other rookie teams without jeopardizing out chances at passing.

Shika looked at me and I motioned for him to take the floor. He mumbled troublesome but stood forward. The group slowly fell quiet. We bunched around him, like we'd been taught in the academy, stopping his lips from being read. Keeping his voice pitched low so it wouldn't carry, he asked team 8 the same thing he'd asked of me.

They fell quiet before Hinata of all people spoke up for her team. "I would rather not fight with my friends. Let us make this a good exam where we can fight together." She had stuttered out, rather strongly. I was impressed. Being a genin was a good change for her.

"Team 7 also agrees. No need to fight amongst ourselves when there are other villages to take down." Sasuke spoke up for formalities sake. Ino nodded.

"Obviously my team agrees, since we suggested it."

"Ah agree on what? Sorry to interrupt, but you guys are drawing all kinds of looks over here. A pile of rookies is quite a sight after all." An older grey haired genin sauntered over to us. He looked like the snake guys apprentice from the show, but I was hesitant to label this guy a traitor based on just appearance.

Naruto twitched next to me. (Naruto twitching also wasn't strong enough evidence to call someone a traitor, but my suspicions were raised even higher.) I didn't give any indication I had noticed anything was wrong, but Sasuke wasn't as slick. He straightened up, eyeing the new comer.

"Who are you?" Asked Kiba. It might've been rude if this guy hadn't interrupted us and opened by talking down to us. as if we were children who just happened to wander in here and not rookies good enough to gain their sensei's nomination. As it was, the feeling had passed all around the group of us, and all three teams were eying the guys suspiciously. I kept up my innocent look, eyeing him with open curiously and none of the hostility Naruto wore.

"Eh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to interrupt. My name's Kabuto. This is my seventh time taking the exam, so I was wondering if I could give any advice to my fellow leaf ninja." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

Something was pinging in the back of my head. (He's definitely snake guys apprentice. He just disarmed everyone with textbook technique. Make us underestimate himself by mentioning his failures, check. Make himself seem like the nice guy by offering help, check. remind us of village ties, check and check because he was subtly shifting his head protector with his embarrassed rubbing)

I could play that game. "That's so nice of you! I'm nervous." I pouted shooting my teammates a slightly irrupted glare. "I don't even think we're ready, but sensei said we all had to compete and that I shouldn't hold back my teammates." I crossed my arms, but slumped in feigned disappointment. Naruto and Sasuke looked more annoyed, but hid their surprise well.

Kabuto latched onto my opening. "Don't worry!" He announced brightly. "I'm sure you guys will do fine. Just don't let yourselves get hurt. You can always try again next time and use this exam for information gathering."

All around him, the genin bristled, which had probably been his intention.

"If you've taken the exam 7 times, we definitely shouldn't take any advice from you." Ino sniffed.

"You look pretty weak." Kiba added skeptically, his arms crossed as he eyed the older genin.

"Yea, you're just going to show us how to fail!" Naruto was slowly losing his indoor voice at his annoyance. I held back a smirk and pushed in front of Naruto.

"Hush you! I want a chance at actually passing this exam. What do you know already? What do I need to know?" I started at Kabuto as if he was the sun. I stood like a weak little girl with my hands clasped infant of me. I let my voice waver when I asked him questions. In short, _I played him._ And while I couldn't be sure, because he was treasonous bastard who probably was experienced with liars—I was pretty sure he fell for it. (Everyone underestimates the girl. He wouldn't even see it coming.)

He just smirked at me indulgently. "Don't worry, I have just the thing. Over the years, I've gathered a ton of information! And compiled it all on an easy to read deck of cards. I can point out the most dangerous people in the exam. And the weakest so you have some targets." He pulled out a deck of cards from his satchel. I eyed the blank card on top with unfeigned curiosity. He preformed a quick jutsu, then flicked through the deck and passed me, Shika, and Hinata a card each. (Shika, I knew, was playing along just like me, but I wondered about Hinata…)

"The red haired genin from Suna. Gaara of the dessert. Uses sand and is a dangerous opponent. His mission list is impressive, but whats more impressive is that he reportedly completed all those missions, A ranks included, without getting any injuries. You rookies should avoid him at all costs." That was Shika's card. I saw the red hair and dark eye shadows. (The future Kazekage was our age? I knew he was going to be friends with Naruto, but why was he being called a flee on sight? I wished for the billionth time that I had watched the show with Kayla.) "The next one is a Konoha shinobi. Hyuuga Neji. Branch family member, last years rookie of the year. I'm sure Hinata here knows that he should be avoided. He's a prodigy the likes of which haven't been seen in years." Hinata let out a slightly frightened squeak. ('He knew Hinata's name already.') This one was my card. "The last one I gave you is grass ninja. Kenji. I heard he's ruthless. Only reason he didn't pass his exam last time was because his teammate was killed." I didn't even glance at the picture.

I didn't trust any of Kabuto's information. Instead I moved him along, pumping him former information. "Who do you think we have a chance against? Can I see my card?" I needed to know what this guy (this traitor) knew about me and my team. How accurate was his information? Dad would want to know the level of detail later too.)

"Sure! Here's your team." He passed me all of my teams' cards. I glanced at them, making it seem like I was studying the info, but in reality I was sighing in relief. He explained what all the stats and metrics meant, but I ignored him, already understanding them. Besides I was focused on depth of information, not so much detail. It had Sasuke's specialty as Taijutsu, nothing about his genjutus abilities. It did know of his ninjutsu ability, but only as far as he had preceded in the academy. Naruto's had him as weak near dropout. No mention of his sensory abilities or his improved taijutsu skills. It did however, note his skill with the shadow clone technique. My own card was also out of date. I had never been a middle of the pack student like my card showed. Improving my stamina and endurance had only brought me further ahead of the pack. (Maybe Kakashi wasn't keeping our records updated. I might've called him paranoid if it wasn't coming back to help us today.)

"Awesome! How do you know all this stuff? It had stuff about Naruto I didn't even know! Naruto, did you really fail the genin exam 3 times?" I let my voice carry. He burned red, snatching the card up.

"Let me see that! This is stupid! I'm way better then this card!" Naruto seemed legitimately upset, but I brushed off my guilt. If this is what it took to convince everyone our team sucked, so be it. Naruto had been the one to suggest down playing our skills after all. And I was sure that after Kabuto's involvement, everyone would be targeting the rookies anyway. He'd drawn attention to our group, announcing us as rookies loudly and clearly numerous times. I considered this minor damage control.

Kabuto gave a slight laugh. "Sasuke-kun's is right though, isn't it?" Sasuke gave a slight nod, keeping a straight face. Naruto spluttered"Anyway, as rookies, I think you guys should focus on the other rookies here: The sound village. They are fairly new village and while I don't have much information on them, they're probably your best bet."

"What was that four eyes?" A ninja with a musical note straightened up in offense at Kabuto's words.

"Ah I wasn't trying to cause offense! I was just strategizing!" He held up his hand in a placating gesture. It wasn't enough to make the other ninja back down. He moved forward, egging on a placating Kabuto. It wasn't long before the sound nin escalated it, launching a punch at Kabuto. The ninja had an exaggerated swing, so slow that I was sure an academy student could dodge it. Sure enough, Kabuto simply leaned back, avoiding the glancing blow. "weak!" Cried Naruto when Kabuto's dropped to his knees. But I had noticed that the fist hadn't touched his face. So had everyone else and they were confused when his glasses broke and he vomited. I blinked and kept my face clueless. (Sound wave attacks from the sound village. Very original. Still thats bothersome. I'll want to avoid them. Sound waves from a glancing hit were enough to produce concussive like injuries…)

"THAT'S ENOUGH." A loud, angry voice called out. I turned along with the rest of the room to see a giant man. He was intimidating looking with a dark bandanna covering his face, but not managing to hide all the scars from his face that continues up to hairline. He had a sadistic grin plastered on his face, even as he scolded the sound ninja. "NO ATTACKING ANYONE IN THIS STAGE. If anyone else is seen fighting, you will be disqualified." His booming voice carried over the now silent room. The sound ninja mumbled something about not knowing the rules and the Konoha Ninja sneered at him. "This isn't your cozy little village anymore. If you don't know the rules yet, you better learn them. NOW everyone grab a number and then move into the next room. The number is your participation number for this stage of the exam. You're to sit at the place with your number at it. Well? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? MOOOVE!"

Everyone started, rushing towards the chunin sitting at a table by the doors to the examination room. I pulled Naruto and Sasuke's arms, holding them back. (mentally I wondered about teaching the two of them English. I needed a way to communicate with them that couldn't be over heard or have the code be broken. Shika and dad already knew a little bit of spoken English from a bored childhood me, so maybe the team would pick it up as well…)

"I don't like Kabuto. Let's not trust anything he said?" Sasuke agreed. Naruto gave us an uncharacteristically grim look.

"His chakra felt like sensei's when he's wandering around the with us in the village. Like he's suppressing it. So he has a lot. So why would he have failed the exams?" I shrugged. I hadn't noticed an abnormal amount of chakra. He'd seemed slightly above average to me and I had been sensing all around us for high signatures from when we first walked in the room. However, Naruto was better then me and could be more discerning then I could so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Those cards alone make him a traitor. He shouldn't have information on us in such detail and he also shouldn't have anything on one of our ally villages, Suna. I'm going to let my dad know after all this, if Shika doesn't before me." Sasuke nodded in approval. Before I moved however, I noticed the sand siblings standing to the back of the room. "Speaking of allies, I'll be right back" I informed my team. I moved over towards Gaara and and his siblings. They eyed me with open hostility, while Gaara met me with disinterested eyes.

"What do you want leaf brat?" The girl, whose name was eluding me at the moment spoke first. I gave her a pleasant smile.

"I just wanted to greet you and welcome you to Konoha. As allies of the leaf, of course I hope this exam goes well for you. All of you." I motioned towards Gaara and puppet guy. (I was hoping to get on their good side. For one, they were very strong allies. But for another, I didn't want them as enemies.)

They all tensed at this. (Weird way to react to hospitality, but okay) "It's a shitty village." The girl scoffed, recovering.

"I'm sorry to hear you say that. My name is Nara Kageko, a member of the Nara Clan. Perhaps after this stage of the exam, I can show you around the village a bit." They seemed stunned, even Gaara who I'd always thought of as more stoic then an Uchiha. Puppet guy was giving me a calculating look while his sister was glaring at me again.

"We might want to do that. I'm Kankuro, and these are my siblings, Temari and Gaara." His voice shook slightly when he said Gaara, and I took note of that. Wasn't he supposed to be close to Gaara? It must be nerves; I was positive I had seen an episode where Gaara had died and these two were close to him in the episode. His advisors. ( Oh man, speaking of, imagine a Kazekage like him. I remembered Kayla's description. He was an awesome leader, apparently willing to die for his village and I was happy that at least one country would get such a passionate leader. Konoha was destined for an angry drunk.)

"Kage, hurry up!" Naruto called. I glanced back. He was near the front of the line. I turned back to the siblings.

"I also want you to remember me Gaara-sama." I bowed low in the form I reserved for my own Hokage. I grinned cheekily when I stood up. "Please remember I was the first to treat you as Kazekage-sama when you finally have the hat." I think even that managed to startle Gaara, but I turned before they could say anything and hurried back to my team, cutting in front of the other waiting ninja just in time for Sasuke to be handed a number. I told the chunin my name and was handed my own number.

We followed Naruto into the room. He was already in the first row, sitting next to Hinata. He shot us two thumbs up.

"What was that all about?" Sasuke mumbled in my ear. I just shook my head and smiled, nudging him towards his seat. He reluctantly broke off from me and found his chair in the middle of the third row, while I delightedly settled in the last row. (From here, I could see everything, and more importantly everyone! I was also almost directly behind Naruto which boded well for my shadow imitation if needed. I also was right what felt like the chakra signature of one of the desk ninja from Hokage tower. That meant I didn't have to be worried about an enemy attack coming from my left at least ) I straightened up when the scary instructor shushinned to the front of the class room, not able to fight shit eating grin from taking residence on my face.

Here was where Naruto would meet Gaara, future Kazekage. Here was where the bonds between our rookie teams would grow. Here was where we began the path to becoming chunin. What reason did I have to not smile?


	13. Chapter 13

This is so late. My bad guys, I was working on being more on top of deadlines, but clearly ts not working. Anyway, here's chapter 13. One of the questions from the exam is loosely based on an LSAT practice problem so if you can figure it out, congrats your better at logic then me! Also thank you to all the reviewers form the last chapter! I always love to hear back from people and it's like crack to check my email and see that I have a new reviewer. (Shout out to Kassie whose been reviewing since chapter one- thanks!)

Also in this email, we deviate from cannon! The rules are different and we can further explore the slightly twisted differences between Kage's old and new life!

As usual, let me know what you think or if you have an questions! I answer PM's pretty quickly so feel free to message me. (Also, like enjoy this chapter and all, but get hype for chapter 14 cause its gonna get crazyyyyyy. Like this is almost necessary filler for the story...)

~Line break~

The room was larger then any of the classrooms had seen when I attended the academy. I wondered if this room was reserved for the exams or if class sizes had just shrunk since the building of the academy. It was set up like a lecture hall, with long tables and rows of desks. There were three people to a desk with 9 rows and 6 columns. Although not every chair was filled, most were which meant that there were roughly 150 participants. The large room was bordered by numerous chunin proctors. Each was holding a clip board and was sitting a chair. Those participants in an end seat close to the chunin leaned away from them, clearly uncomfortable with the cold and calculating looks they were receiving. At the front of the room was a chalk board and a lectern. To the right hand side were huge windows that brightened up the whole room. The main proctor who had been yelling at us all was already standing up front with his arms crossed.

(As a quick aside, I just want to point out that even in the Naruto Universe, the rule 'dress for the job you want' was _very_ true. For example, Kakashi sensei went out of his way to seem unassuming. He purposefully slumped and read porn in public while wearing the standard jonin outfit, a calculated 'lazy' decision. I had accidentally followed his path in trying to seem harmless, dressing down and could always be found slouching. There was also Shisui who made himself out to be an overexcited moron. Albeit some of his stupidity was real—but Shisui had been considered _the_ Uchiha prodigy before Itachi took over. And with the clumsy and affable personality he portrayed to the village, you wouldn't guess his near 100% mission success rate. Then there was Uncle Inoichi, who owned a flower shop and was always quick with a smile and a friendly compliment. His demeanor hid his profession in the Torture and Interrogation Department. The head of the interrogation unit, as I understood it. Basically what I'm getting at is that people in the village—ninja everywhere really— dressed a certain way for a reason. Which was why this proctor stood out.)  
The man at the front of the room was tall and had a face covered in scars. His head was covered in a bandana, but it wasn't low enough on his forehead to hide the scars creeping over his head. He was dressed in a heavy black and his long coat swung ominously behind him. He stood with his shoulders thrown back and he positively _loomed_ over everyone in the room. In short, he looked intimidating. (Which was, based on my experience, an entirely personal choice.) He was probably trying to frighten us. The line of chunin on each side of the room fit that narrative. The pressure in the room was high and I swear he must subtly be releasing killing intent because I had to force myself to relax into my chair.

"Welcome to the Chunin exam brats. You'll be dealing with me for the first part." He gave a face splitting grin, which looked all kinds of wrong on his face. It reminded me of my own use of smiles to disarm people. (I wondered if my face would also look so scary once I accumulated some more scars.)

He continued on "My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm a jonin of Konoha and I'll be overseeing your written test. You don't pass the test, you don't become a chunin; simple as that. You'll have 2 hours to complete questions one through nine. Question ten will be given after the time limit. The rules will only be said once, but are written on the board behind me so that you don't bother asking me again. Rule number one: Each team must attain at least fifteen points to pass the exam. Rule two: Each team member must contribute at least 3 points to the total score. Rule number three: Cheating is prohibited and anyone caught cheating more then 3 times will be asked to leave the examination. Rule four: If your team fails, you fail. Anything else you need to know will be told to you before the final question is provided. Any questions?"

The stern faced proctor stared down everyone in the room, daring us to bother him.  
I looked around the room. Curiously, there were no clocks around the room. Two hours seemed rather generous to complete 9 questions so I wondered if the 2 hours was just an arbitrarily picked amount of time. I noticed the examines were all sitting stiffly, with their shoulders hunched and most already had their pencils in their hand, eager to begin. I looked back to the proctor and tentatively raised my hand. He stared at me with his creepy grin still in place. (His gaze was sharp. Clearly he must be intelligent to be a jonin, but I felt like his eyes were seeing more then just a genin raising their hand.) I suppressed a shiver and raised my and I pasted on my smile, the one I used on everyone from the hokage to Gato.

"Participant number 137?"

"Yes sir! Just two questions actually!" His face remained immobile. The chunin closest to me was marking something down on his clip board already. I ignored him. "For the exam, we had to compete with groups of 3. If one of my team members is eliminated here, is the rest too my cell allowed to continue forward?"

I watched people around the room flinch at that. I hoped that was the case. Weaker teams to deal with later on, and I had also (accidently) suggested in-team fighting. Some participants turned to eye their teammates warily, and some just grew very pale. Others raised their eye brows and looked at Ibiki curiously. I kept my smile steady.  
"The chunin exams look to provide a test of your ability to act as a chunin during real mission stress. If you lose a teammate, a mission does not end." Cold and rational. People again flinched.

"Oh okay great!" I answered perkily. Faking excitement and bouncing in my seat, I asked my other question. This was the one I actually cared about. "Also, are the exams all the same version? It wouldn't be very fair is some had a different version and it was easier then the majority of the tests…" I let my voice trail off. The proctor raised an eyebrow, clearly not fooled, but I widened my smile: I didn't care if he was fooled—I just needed to know if I as going to have the same exam as Naruto.

"We only have the same version circulating the room in the essence of 'fairness'" He mocked me with the word. "Although that's an idea for next time…"

I blinked. (Did this world not have multiple versions of exams? I could believe it; I knew we all always had the same exam in the academy, but I figured that was because we were kids. Sometimes the differences from my first life were so randomly different from the aspects of my current life. In my past life, university cheating had been a huge issue and academic dishonesty was always being fought. I'd never had a collegiate exam that only used one version for a class.)

Ibika was still eying me, so I gave a slight nod. He turned to his left. A ninja shushinned next to him and handed him a stack of exams. He quickly distributed them throughout the room. The genin to my left was from Grass and he kept shooting me wary looks. The 'genin' to my right was sitting stiffly and wore a leaf head protector. I didn't recognize him at all and again figured he was a plant. What a shame for the room at large. They were missing someone to cheat off of; I was sure I wouldn't need to glance over at his paper.

Once Ibiki boomed "Start!" the room was a flurry of motion. Everyone hurried to flip over their test and answer as many questions as they could in the limited time. I took my time, first glancing up and noticing a sleeping Naruto. He had his head down on the desk, the test remaining unanswered in front of him. I smiled softly, then controlled my face. No reason to give away anything more to the room; the grass ninja next to me seemed convinced I was a team abandoning psychopath who smiled too much

(maybe. He hadn't said as much, but that's probably what I would be thinking in his shoes). I grabbed my pencil and flipped over the exam. Languidly with large bold strokes I wrote my name on the top of the exam before glancing over the questions.

They were high chunin level. Not impossible to answer, but morale breaking if you were the average genin in this test. I shook my head in annoyance. This would require some calculations in each questions. I wasn't going to finish as early as I had hoped.

'Question 1: You have received information from numerous informants in a village. Some of the information seems conflicting, however, the facts provided are 100% truthful. Based on the statements below, give a detailed description of your target.

-Target is tall and has a distinctive walk compared to the average inhabitant of the town.  
-The target is short compared to tallest man in the small town you are staking out.  
-Target is highly charismatic and spends a large amount of time conversing with the townspeople.  
-Target has hair that is colored purple and wears it in a very distinct style.  
-Target carries a large weapon the size of their wing span, but the informant is not sure what the name of it is.  
-Target stride is unaffected by choice in footwear or dress including heavy bulky jackets and clunky work boots.'

I scoffed and glanced around the room. People looked stumped. I shook my head in disbelief and began writing out the profile.

'Target is a tall female, identified by distinctive purple hair held up in some kind of hairstyle. Target most likely has ninja background based distinctive walk being unaffected by different shoes (ie, most kunoichi train to fight in heels and kimonos). Target is most likely an information gathering expert based on ability to charm towns people. Target should be approached from a distance as the target most likely has a mid range to close range weapon. Target most likely gathering information on town, so should be captured alive to discover what information she was targeting and why she was sent to this town in particular.'

I figured that was enough for question one; anything else I could write would be heavy extrapolation and I didn't want to lose points for making false assumptions. The next question was a heavy logic question. I had answered fairly quickly, but this looked like one of the easier questions on the exam.I glanced up and noticed Ibiki still standing at the front of the room, looming over everyone in the front row. The chunin at the sides of the room were also marking things on their clip board and leering at the participants closest to them. I bit on the eraser to my pencil and moved on to the next question.

Question 2: The Land of Samurai to the north heavily taxes all importation of agriculture revenue from the taxes goes towards subsidies for trade schools. A non-analogous situation is a library charging fees for late books and then using the proceeds to purchase new books. Explain why this is not a good comparison and provide an analogous situation in example.'

I chewed on the end of my pencil. This test was turning out to be a pain in the ass. Even copying the answers to Naruto's test was going to be bothersome because they were written answers which would imply variance. I jotted down my answer (The greater the success achieved in meeting the first objective, the less the success in achieved in meeting the second objective. A better example is charging a toll over an older bridge to encourage travelers to use a different bridge. If the proceeds from the tolls were pooled together to fund the building of a new bridge, the situations are comparable and reach the same analysis.)

"THUNK" A kunai was buried in the desk of a participant two seats away from Sasuke.  
"Whaa-huh?" The poor kid looked startled and could barely form a response. A chunin from one of the outer seats leered at him.  
"You're out number 145. You were caught cheating three times."  
"No but I didn't—!"  
"KEEP ARGUING AND YOUR ENTIRE TEAM IS OUT!" Ibiza roared from his place in the front of the room. Near tears, the chunin-hopeful gathered his stuff and quickly exited the room. Ibiza gave a dark smile to everyone watching the proceedings. "Tick tock children. Only 90 minutes left."

Everyone tensed and hurried back to writing. I frowned and glanced out the window. The sun hadn't moved enough. Maybe 30 minutes had passed since the test began, but I doubted it. Feeling the tension in my shoulders, I gave them a quick roll still frowning. I noticed Ibiki glance my way and I shot him a brilliant smile. (If he was part of torture and interrogation, his whole shtick was mind games. I doubted we'd get the full two hours for the exam. I also doubted that the first person eliminated hadn't been a plant intended to stress everyone out. I could be wrong. But it made sense…)

I moved on to question three. A mathematical question asking for the instantaneous rate of speed of a smoke bomb being lobbed from a tree at 4 seconds post throw. (Of course, it wasn't called instantaneous rate of speed; I was pretty sure that calculus hadn't been invented in this world as Issac Newton didn't exist here. But I had taken a calc class or two, albeit over 2 decades ago, and this was similar enough to 'the tangent problem' that I wasn't worried.)  
In the time it took me to complete the next problem, three more individual participants were eliminated and one full team.

I ignored their leaving, as well as the comments said by the proctors and Ibiki—As far as I was concerned, everything being done was a show to further intimidate us. I only looked up when I was interrupted from moving on to start question 4. A kunai landed in front of me. Sort of. I looked at it, then the chunin who had thrown it.  
"Number 97 you're out! Grab your things and leave!" The person to my right flinched, but moved to leave. The chunin made eye contact with me and gave me a nasty grin. I forced myself to calm my racing heart and shot him the same smile I had given Ibiki before—I wasn't going to lose to mind games. (A chunin should be able to aim a kunai. This was a power move)

Questions 4 through 7 were more logic problems. As I wrote out answers, more and more people were eliminated. I watched as people around me hunched their shoulders and wrote quicker. (I internally marveled at the ability Ibiki had—everyone in this room was convinced there was only an hour left for the test. I put it at an hour and half to an hour and fifteen.

The last two questions were more math problems. One was a statistical problem and the other was a simple algebra problem disguised as a grossly over complicated word problem. I hurried through them, completing them as quickly as I could.

I glanced up at the first row. Naruto was out cold, with Hinata glancing at him in worry every few minutes. Sasuke was writing furiously, but his eyes were on a person a few tables over and across from him. ('Must be the sharingan, which is such bullshit, but I'm not even going to let myself get mad at that overpowered heirloom right now.') Shikamaru already had his head down (of course he was finished, genius that he was) and Ino was also seemed to be asleep, although it was more likely that she had currently taken over Choji and was filling in his test questions, because he was writing far quicker then I had ever seen him write before. Everyone else from my graduating class seemed to have things well in hand. I quickly moved all my items to match Naruto's desk as exactly as I could. I angled my test the same way his was facing, then put my pencil the in the same place as his. I needed to walk him through every step of the way and if I wasn't doing the task myself, I had no way to force his body to do it.  
(Although Shika and Dad could have done all this without having an actual test in front of them or holding a pencil, I had no where near the skill in shadow mimicry that they did. I was trying my best to work around my inadequacies. )

Once everything was set, I went through the hand seals for the shadow possession, dropped my head to the desk just like Naruto's was, and let my shadow stretch out. (I wasn't worried about the proctors seeing the hand seals. That was my only attempt at cheating—I probably wasn't going to be disqualified for just the one attempt.) I used the desks shadows to extend mine until I felt the connection to his shadow. I quickly latched on and then raised my head.

Naruto copied me. I grabbed my pencil, then quickly pulled my test towards me. Naruto did the same. There was only the slightest bit of resistance. He was probably still asleep—lucky for me. I steadily traced over the answers I had written for the math problems on the test. As it was all math, having the same exact answer as Naruto wouldn't be quite as suspicious as having the same exact analysis in a logic problem. I worked as quickly as I could, already feeling the slight drain on my chakra. I had no idea when the next portion of the exam would be, and I wanted as much chakra available as possible. For this reason alone, I only completed 3 questions on Naruto's test—he only needs to contribute 3 points and I saw no reason to waste time adding another question when we would exceed the required 15 points for our team.

Once I was finally finished, I flipped over my exam (and Naruto's), released the possession and let Naruto's head thunk into his desk. He woke up with a shout that got him a dirty look from Ibiki. He glanced down and saw the turned over exam. He didn't turn around, but I could imagine the huge smile on his face, even as he put his head back down and sat squirming in his chair. I inwardly snickered and put my own head down. I let the proctors imagine I was taking a nap like the lazy Nara I was. Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep even if I wanted too; I was wide awake.

I instead used my time to observe the competition. Regrettably, the more competent were wrapping up their completed tests, whether from their own knowledge or from their superior cheating skills, I wasn't quite sure. I eyed a leaf ninja who had rigged a mirror up to the ceiling. I wondered if she got docked for cheating every time she got caught using it, or just during the set up. There was also another Hyuuga a few rows over, and I could see his byakugan from where I was sitting. (Another cheating dojoutsu. Shadows were cool and I loved them, but lets be honest and just say that some clans were over powered. It was like a video game character that was too stacked. It was just waiting to be nerfed by the developers.)

One of the few grass teams remaining seemed to be using a pretty overt hand sign system, but the chunin weren't paying attention. (I mentally made note of the team—at least one of them was must be an expert genjutsu user.)  
I looked around curiously. The snake dude's apprentice was already finished. Awkwardly, he was sitting next to a sound ninja. (I inwardly delighted at the cringe he must be feeling.) It took me a second to locate the sound ninja who had thrown the punch. He was almost completely opposite the room from where I was sitting, and he was hunched over, similar to how he'd been standing. (back problems this young was not a good sign. Thank goodness for Konoha's healthcare being above standard.)

He had a hand cupping his ear and he was writing while he listened. (Tell me he wasn't hearing people writing and copying it. The physics in this world were just broken. I made an even stronger worded mental note to avoid the sound team. They were beyond what I thought we could handle at the moment. Besides their techniques were even more broken then the sharingan.)

More and more people were being eliminated, teams holding back tears as they watched their teammates leave. The room looked about two-thirds full, compared to the packed room I had walked into. According to Ibiki, we still had another 20 minutes to go before we received the final exam. (More like 45. He wasn't even being consistent with his increments of time.)

I whiled away the time. Kiba had his nindog walking around the room and giving small yips. (I rolled my eyes. Whoever was watching his section was clearly a dog lover because everyone in Konoha knew that Inuzuka's understood their dogs and that their partners were intelligent enough to be considered ninja in their own rights. )  
The Kazekage sat close enough for me to eye him curiously. He was a scrawny brat now, but I remembered the show. He was going to grow up to be an awesome ambassador of peace. I couldn't wait till Naruto became friends with him. Maybe when Naruto was on his training trip/time skip, I could go visit Sand and hang out with the Kage. Chilling in the desert might be like chilling at the beach, without all the water.

As if sensing my eyes on her brother, Temari turned around and glared at me. I mock scowled back then winked at her. (I had no idea why she didn't like me, but the nicer I was, the more mad she got. I totally understood why sensei showed up late to everything if this was the kind of reaction he received. Pissing people off was just so much fun.)

Her glare grew even stronger and she whirled around to stare at the front of the room with her arms crossed. I kept my head down and moved my arm over to cover my mouth so my smile wouldn't show.

When about half the room had been eliminated, Ibiki finally spoke up. (Huh, guess I was a bit slow on the uptake there. He wasn't measuring time—he was measuring the amount of teams he was going to allow to pass.)

"Alright brats, your time to complete the first nine questions is over. Pass your exams to the front of the room." I eyed my test, making sure no sleight of hand occurred to 'lose' my test on the way up. Thankfully, I was pretty sure my exam made it into the chunin at the front of the room's hands. Ibiza continued talking.

"They're going to begin grading these exams while I give you the final question. This question has slightly…different rules." He let out a soft chuckle. It had the intended effect, with a wave of shivers sweeping through the room, chunin proctors on the side included.

"You only have one chance to take question ten. You can opt out right now if you'd like. There will be no penalty against you for not proceeding with the question. Instead, you will simply be eliminated from the exam. HOWEVER" The people in the front jumped as he slammed a hand down on Naruto's table. Naruto popped up, abruptly awoken.  
"If you chose to take the tenth question and you get it wrong, you will be ineligible to ever become a chunin. You will be barred from all future chunin exams. Weigh the risk carefully.

Oh but before I forget, question ten is special. We're weighing it as 3 points, rather then one. Which means those of you that passed forward a blank test—"he glanced around the room, "Or those of you that didn't manage to get enough right on the first portion might be able to earn enough points with this final question." His smile grew even larger, if that was possible.

He looked absolutely demented.

"Is it worth it?" His voice was a whisper. The whole room froze then —

"Thats it: I'm out! No way am I gonna be stuck a genin forever!" The plant next to me stood up so abruptly his chair fell over.

Ibiza gave the room a cold smile and acknowledged the man. "Good for you. Chunin need to be able to think clearly. Better luck next time. Participant number 12, you and your team may leave."

Two other stood up to protest, but Ibiki stared them down. They shut up and glared at their teammate the way out. Even with the show they'd given the room, another raised his hand and announced his wish to withdraw.  
Another genin gave out a displeased groan.

"Why? We could've gotten 15 points even with Maika being disqualified!" I heard the teammate grumbled on the way out.

Slowly the room emptied out. Naruto was tense, but I relaxed back in my chair, ignoring the atmosphere. Our team had 9 points from my exam, 3 from Naruto's and I was sure at least 3 correct answers from Sasuke's paper. We would pass. And they had said nothing about abstaining from the 10th question. We had enough points without the inclusion of the final question. Sasuke also looked tense in his seat, and he shot me a look, but I just gave him a small smile in reassurance. (Sasuke was always tense anyway. The guy didn't know how to relax)

Once the flux of people stopped, Ibiki spoke up again.

"That it? All of you ready for the final question then? This is going to make or break you—chunin hopeful or eternal genin." The room stayed quiet but determinedly stared forward.

"Well then…You all pass!" I nearly dropped out of my chair.

"What the fuck was all that then?" One of the other competitors shouted out.

Ibiki gave a small smile to the person who shouted, quieting down the rock ninja. "The final question was a test of your will. As a chunin you will be presented with situation that seem hopeless. You will be presented with the option of proceeding or retreating. And while sometimes retreat is the correct choice—sometimes you need the guts to make the hard choices and to power on."

Naruto sat up straighter and I could tell he liked this final test. (I, meanwhile, was furious. I had wasted a good hour of my life on a test that had been fairly difficult, for nothing. I mentally cursed sensei for signing team seven up for this bullshit.)

Tamara spoke up, sounding furious. "So this whole test was a bs way of testing our mettle?"

"No, no, we wouldn't waste your time like that. Your test scores are going to factor into your over all chunin promotion score. There are certain factors that weigh in the choice. A good score, i.e.: 3 to 5 points or potentially even more, will make you look much more favorable as a candidate." (Well that was something good at least. All three of us had achieved at least three questions.)

"The next portion of the exam will begin in 20 minutes. You will be required at the main entrance to training ground 44. Don't be late."

At some unseen signal, every chunin and Ibiki disappeared from the room. It struck me as very theatrical and cool looking, but a waste of time synchronizing. (How much time was wasted gathering all the chunin together just to practice making an impression on foreign genin?)

Once the proctors were gone, everyone stood up in a mad rush to join with their teams. I stayed where I was, waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to come find me. It didn't take them long to push past the crowd. I motioned for them to sit down next to me while I continued watching the crowd. Some were moving around harried, glancing around the room for some hint on where training ground 44 was. Others were huddled together, lips hidden as they discussed the test. Leaf ninja looked equally as baffled about the location of training ground 44. (If I had to guess it would be by all the rest of the training grounds our village offered, but what did I know?)

The Kazekage and his sibling were off to the side, no group getting to close to them. Tamari and Kankuro were whispering to each other but Gaara stood on his own, also watching the room. When his gaze scanned over to me, I gave a slightly cheery wave and a huge genuine smile. His face didn't change, but he turned to join in the conversation with his siblings. Instantly they stopped talking and stared at him. While I watched them speak, I spoke quietly to Naruto and Sasuke.

"I think we should try working with that sand team for the next part." I motioned lazily over to the window by where the kazekage stood.

"We don't need help!" Naruto was quick to say no. Sasuke looked at me thoughtfully.

"Why?" He had his hands clasped in front of him, and he rested his head on his fingers. He looked like a philosopher debating the meaning of life. I gave him a smirk.

"I'm not a betting woman but—" Sasuke couldn't hold back his slight guffaw. (On the bridge, he and I had gone back and forth playing poker and blackjack. And I was very much a betting woman.) "I bet you both that the red head is gonna be the biggest competition in this exam. I wouldn't be surprised to find out we're looking at a future kage of Suna. He gives off the right aura."

Naruto tilted his head and looked at Gaara quizzically. "I dunno Kage. I don't have that aura and I'm the future Hokage, datebayo. He seems kind of…weird." (Bless Naruto and his small vocabulary. Calling someone as terrifying as the _other_ demon boy 'scary' instead of petrifying)

I smiled at him gently. "Naruto, haven't you been sensing the chakra in the room?"

"Of course, Datebayo! It's what I did when I woke up from the test!"

"So you can tell even better then I can that he's got the most chakra out of anyone else in this room?" (I excluded Naruto in my count. If Gaara made me seem like a thimble to his lake, Naruto made Gaara seem like a lake to his ocean. And if Naruto wasn't my friend, I would've been very worried to be in this exam with him.)

"Besides, he seems like he'll be fun to mess with. Looks too uptight. Like Sasuke when he first wakes up." Sasuke shot me and Naruto a dirty look as Naruto burst out laughing. "Sasuke, the only person who's worse in the mornings then you is Kage."

"What? I'm not bad in the mornings!" I protested. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"We're getting off track. I don't think we should work with the sand team—we have the ability to finish this exam on our own, so lets do it and become chunin."

I frowned but shrugged my shoulders. "Fine, fine sounds like a plan to me. Right, I'm glad we brought our bags. This next stage seems bothersome."

"It sounds like a breeze! We're just going to a training ground!" Naruto jumped from his seat, already too excited at the prospect of continuing to sit still any longer.

Sasuke gave a long suffering sigh and face palmed. (Sometimes I wondered how he stayed sane. I only managed Naruto from long time exposure to Shisui and some heavy behavior modification on my part.)

"Naruto, training ground forty four? Come on, I know you're not that dense, teme." At Naruto's uncomprehending explanation, I explained for Sasuke.

"The number four sounds like death right Naruto?" He nodded. "So forty four sounds like…." I looked at him meaningfully.

"Wait. So the second part of our exam is in the training ground of…death-y death?"

"Yup. Speaking of that, can you do me a favor Naruto?"

"Of course I can, Datebayo!" He flexed his muscles. "Want me to handle the next part of the test?"

"Not like you're thinking. Can you make a clone and have them run to the hokage tower? I want them to go to the permit office, you know where you request private training grounds and stuff? And then can your clone ask the desk ninja on duty as much information as possible on training ground 44? Hopefully your clone can find some stuff out and bring us some information for the test."

Sasuke nodded in approval. His eyebrows were slightly raised, which meant he was impressed. (It was such a warm and cozy dynamic our team had, especially when I received such high praise.)

I glanced around the room again, which was nearly empty. The sand siblings had already exited. Shika and his team were talking in the corner still, but besides them, we were the only full team left in the room.I gave a slight salute to Shika as I stood up. Sasuke stood next to me and we both slung our packs over our shoulders, copying Naruto.  
Naruto made quick clone and the clone hurried ahead of us, while the three of us moved towards the now open window. Other ninja had already exited out of it, so we followed suite and hopped out. After all our practice with Sensei, roof hoping was now second nature for me and Naruto, and Sasuke could manage it without damaging any property most of the time.

The clone quickly hoped down the streets and moved to the nearby hokage tower while the three of us quickly traversed the vilage. Training grounds were labeled 1-20, before they received more inspired and personalized names such as 'Jonin restricted training ground 3', called JR 3 for short. Beyond the chunin and jonin restricted training grounds was more empty land,still well within the massive outer walls that encompassed the village. Once we past the huge fields that were within the village proper, we finally started to reach the more volatile grounds. There was the 'simulated explosives training ground'(which didn't have a name for short, but that was okay because you wouldn't catch me dead working with explosives anyway).

It was only near the outskirts of the village, to the point that we were well within the range of the outer village wall that we came upon training ground 44. It was the furthest out of the village of any training ground that I had seen. I could weakly sense the other competitors the closer we got to the fence off wooded area.

"Behold!" I said dramatically sweeping a hand out in front of us as we hopped towards the cluster of chakra signals that were probably signifying the entrance. "Training ground forty four!"

"Hnng." Sasuke was unimpressed. Naruto giggled and copied my theatrical arm sweep.

"BEHOLD! THE CHUNIN EXAMS PART TWO: THE TRAINING GROUNDS OF DEATHY-DEATH!"


	14. Chapter 14

So this has been mostly written for a couple weeks now, but my laptop is broken. Like broken broken. Soo it's been tough to write. However, here it is at last for you! I should have the next one out in the next two weeks. I'm also gonna send some time cleaning up the previous chapters because people were so helpful and give feed back on spelling and grammar! Please continue to let me know if you notice any inconsistencies or issues!

As always, let me know what you think!

~Line break~

If Ibiki had been dressing for intimidation, then this instructor was dressing for distraction. She reminded me of Naruto, if instead of wearing neon orange he had instead chosen fishnet everything and a long trench coat. Her hair was a spiky mess in a pony tail and was reminiscent of my own up-do, except her hair was purple. Also, quite unlike me, she gave off a feeling of 'batshit insanity'.

"How does that sound, hmm?" My team arrived at the front gates to the training ground just in time to see her lick a kunai in front of a shaking rock ninja. (I tried not to judge. My sensei read porn in public; ninja dealt with stress weirdly. Still—licking kunai seemed unsanitary and more then a little attention seeking.)

We made our way over to the other rookies. Naruto immediately began chatting with Kiba while Sasuke and Shino stood in mutual silence, listening to their chatter. I shot Hinata a welcoming smile and then leaned against a gate in peaceful tranquility next to a nervous Hinata. The next instructor was still scaring the recruits closest to her, but our group was far enough back to be out of her range. Shika's team joined us only a few minutes after we had arrived..  
"Yo." I gave a slight salute to the team, smiling at them. Ino frowned at me.

"You can act less like your sensei. It's not required to pick up their habits." I scoffed.

"Why would I want to be less like my sensei? He's awesome! Have you seen how mad people get when he walks into a room?"

Sasuke's face pinched and he let out a soft sigh. "That's because he's walking in 2 hours late and they were waiting for him."

I let my huge grin show. "I know!" I exclaimed excitedly.

With our three teams present, we only had to wait for the new instructor to speak up. We didn't wait long; only a few minutes after team 8's arrival, the purple haired girl spoke up, finally confirming (to me anyway) that she knew Ibiki (at the very least, if she wasn't best friends with him.)

"Okay brats, you made it here within the time limit, but that was the easiest thing your going to have done today. The real test starts now. The next part of the exam was designed by me." She cackled. (honest to god cackled, like a disney villain.) "And I made sure to make this test dangerous." Everyone around us was tensed, especially those up front who had been dealing with the ninja earlier. I glanced around confused.

There in the tree line were more chunin, observing us. But I was pretty sure I had just seen an Anbu. (Not sensed because they're chakra suppressing skills were way beyond my sensory skill. But a white mask stands out in a dark forest and I had seen something flash by for a second.) 'Why are there Anbu watching over a chunin exam? Surely not just for foreign ninja observation…'

"… going to go into this training ground and you're going to try your best survive." She laughed again and throughout her whole speech she had maintained a homicidal smirk. It reminded me of Naruto before one of his stupider pranks.

"The twist of course is that you're not just defending yourself against the forest—you're going to be fighting each other. Each team will be given a scroll. A 'heaven'" She held up a white scroll with the kanji for heaven inscribed on the side. "Or 'earth'" Here she held up an identically sized scroll that was brown and labeled earth.  
"Each team has the goal of safeguarding their scroll and obtaining the opposite type of scroll form a rival team. Obviously, that means you need to take another teams scroll, which will of course put them further behind." Another cold laugh.

"You'll have 5 days in the woods." I started at this. I had figured we'd have a month considering this was the survival portion of the exam and the finals weren't slated to begin until next month.

"Don't open the scrolls in the woods, or we'll know. Your ultimate goal is that tower waaaaay in the center of the woods." She swung here arm out in a useless gesture; the trees in this training ground were huge and I saw no sign of a tower anywhere.

Everyone will have to pick up a waiver over here. When your whole team has filled it out, you can go to that tent over there" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at a tent behind her, "And pick up your scroll. You're also going to find out what gate you enter through. We like to stagger the entrance points a bit so that the bloodbath doesn't start right away. Good luck children; you're going to need it."

Anko cackled as she started to walk away. I turned to my looked thoughtful, but Naruto was scratching his head with a confused look on his face. "Whats the point in this? A race to the center of a forest doesn't show who should be a chunin."

"Dobe, of course you wouldn't get it." Sasuke exasperatedly rolled his eyes. I smirked but answered Naruto.  
"Naruto, we really need to work on your underneath the underneath skills. This a combination test. It's testing a ton of things at once. We need to retrieve another scroll from an 'enemy' team" I air quoted which seemed to confuse Sasuke, but Naruto was used to it already and nodded along. "We also need to show we have the ability to remain stealthily so we're not targeted by other teams. We're not allowed to look in the scrolls, which is honestly pretty standard of most missions; just because we're holding a scroll doesn't mean we're privy to the information."  
Sasuke humphed in agreement.

"And the paper thingy? What's the point of that?" Naruto pointed to the stack of sheets by where Anko had moved to.

I shrugged. "Honestly I have no idea; haven't read it yet. But it's probably related to the first test. A waiver implies we could get severely hurt or even die here. They want all the examinees frightened and in a bad state of mind. I'm not saying to take it easy, but panicking about five days in a forest is not the best way to pass."

Sure enough, most of our competitors were freaking out as they read over the form together. Shika and his team had already signed it however, which reinforced my belief that, while possibly necessary, it was more likely a scare tactic. (After all, our entrance form for the exam probably already precluded all liability from any and all manners of death. Just charming to see how valuable a life is.)

"The first proctor was trying to mess with our psyche— this one is probably the same." Sasuke spoke quietly. (I quietly explained to Naruto "Psyche means like your mind, kind of now shh") "But the actual exam itself seems like it could give us trouble."

I blinked in surprise. "I disagree. We are more then suited for they exam. Probably more then any of the other teams."

"How? We're a battle squad; we don't have the skills that someone like say team 8 has in reconnaissance. Or even team ten in retrieval. All of us can work well together, but our purpose is to back up other teams with raw power." Sasuke was speaking about the general team structures that had been taught to us in the academy. And I could see where he was coming from, but still I disagreed.

"Maybe we started off as a frontal assault squad, or a support team. Maybe even a tracker squad, I don't know." I faltered for a second at the though—we were kind of getting good at tracking weren't we?— before continuing "but we sure haven't remained one. Kakashi sensei's training has changed everyone around. Something like this exam is perfect for our skill set."

Sasuke looked completely unimpressed and Naruto still looked confused at the academy level terminology, so I lowered my voice, cognizant of the foreign and enemy ninja all around me. "Imagine for a second Sasuke, what kind of skills we have;A taijutsu specialist with an abundance of chakra" I gestured to Naruto, "Who also has stamina that is unreal. A midrange fighter who can use taijutsu, genjustsu, and ninjutsu almost interchangeably based on whatever the situation calls for. A jack of all trades who can jump between close, mid and distance range fights. And then a midrange to distance specialist who has been trained from childhood on how to best arrange team formations. Our team has a sensor that is good enough to pick out general chakra levels and a strategist that can figure out the best possible opponents for us. Remember—they didn't tell us we have to go after x team. We have a choice of whichever team we want. Which means that if we find a team weaker then us, they're as fair game as the strongest team in here. Our skills are perfectly suited towards this. We may have started as a backup/battle squad, but honestly we're more likely to be recategorized as a general attribute squad."

Sasuke, who had looked introspective as I spoke, let out a groan at my final thoughts.

"Whats wrong with being a general squad?" Naruto spoke up.

"We're stuck with whatever missions need to be done. Average and mediocre ninjas become general specialists." I frowned at Sasuke's crass answer.

"General teams get an eclectic mix of missions. Sometimes they are way above their ability, and other times way below. Basically whenever a mission needs to be done and the specialist teams are out, or the mission doesn't require a particular specialist, a general team gets sent out. Typically genin formed on the jonin track don't go this route as their formed with an intention in mind. Technically, they're supposed to train us for a speciality slot. However, while the general teams typically come from the genin and chunin corps, this is not a bad thing." I cut off Sasuke who was looking mutinous. " This is not a bad thing because it also means that they get the most experience. And as someone that fully expects to make jonin one day, experience and well rounded ability matter. Proving that our team has overall skills and ability to work with all different kinds of abilities will show our flexibility and creativity.

Besides," I glared at Sasuke, "specialized teams normally have to become Tokubetsu Jonin and even out their skills before they can even try for jonin. General teams can skip over that and become jonin right away because all their skills are polished. I have no interest in an extra level, so if we can skip that step, thats the plan I want to go with."

"Hmm" Sasuke looked grudgingly at me, before inclining his head. "I…didn't know all that. But it makes sense…"

('Besides!' I thought brightly 'I'm pretty sure were being trained as an assassination squad by Kakashi sensei—he's really good at killing people; no way is he going to let his team just languish as a general team without prepping us for an eventual higher ranking squad!)

While I had been speaking to Sasuke, Naruto's clone had rejoined us and was listening in interest, A kunai whistled through the air and the clone dispersed. I looked on in dismay. From behind the smoke appeared Anko.

"What a shame. I thought it was a late participant. But still, you were supposed to have arrived 10 minutes ago. Better get a move on."

I glanced around. The area had thinned dramatically. Most teams already having collected their scroll and moved towards their entrance gate. Internally I frowned. I'd wasted of time explaining everything to Sasuke instead of scouting out reactions from other teams. (I just got so frustrated with emo boy sometimes. Besides, the more he understood the less he'd question later when time might really count)

"Come on guys!" Naruto moved towards the now considerably lessened stack of waivers and snatched up three for us. He passed each of us one, and continued on to the tent without even bothering to read it. Sasuke briefly scanned the paper then followed Naruto. I moved at a more sedate pace, trailing after them.

The document was pretty much the standard waiver form you'd expect. (Not that I had seen one in this life before—I worked as a ninja; of fucking course death was an expected outcome. No, I had seen waivers when I tried to go into a haunted house or into a trampoline gym.) It outlined that the village took no responsibility for deaths, crippling injuries, mental or emotional trauma, yata yata. It did, interestingly enough, claim that any deaths incurred during the tournament forfeited their bodies to the host village.

(Again, I cursed not paying attention. It would have been important to see which teams balked at signing the form if only to search for bloodline limit users.)

The inside of the tent was deceptively larger looking then the outside. There was a table in the middle, where the completed forms of our competitors were stacked. A chunin stood behind the desk looking bored. Behind him was a huge stack of scrolls, reminiscent of stacked firewood. The ninja asked for our examination numbers, our signed forms, and then our preference for scrolls. All of us looked at each other in surprise.

"We get to choose?" Sasuke asked cautiously. Naruto was bouncing on his toes in excitement.

"I want the brown one!" The ninja ignored Sasuke and handed Naruto an earth scroll.

"What the fuck Naruto! We've talked about not doing things without discussing it!" I frowned at him.

"Ahh sorry Kage-chan, I just thought that cause there were more brown scrolls that meant that they'd given out more white ones. Which means…that it'll be easier to find…a…white one?" He trailed off hesitant towards the end, shooting myself and a glaring Sasuke the most impressive set of puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen.

I blinked and shared a look with Sasuke. He looked equally shocked. "I—yea you're right Naruto."

He grinned again and turned back to the chunin. The older ninja looked vaguely amused. "Here's your starting gate number. They'll be an examiner there waiting to let you in a the proper start time." "Any tips?" I tried with a smile.

He grinned savagely. "Try not to die."

I rolled my eyes and Sasuke Hmmed, while Naruto frowned at the chunin.

"You know, everyone should try changing it up. If everyone says the same thing it sounds planned." The man looked a bit shocked as Naruto shrugged and continued. "Badly too. Kage-chan wouldn't do it that way anyway. Unless she wanted us to looked for the hidden meaning."

I nodded sagely and Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed under his breath. "Cant you two just be normal?"

He snatched the scroll from Naruto's hand and rudely turned Naruto around. While Naruto protested the abuse, Sasuke unzipped his pack and shoved the scroll inside.

"No one will think the bright orange idiot who charges into battle screaming would be trusted with the scroll."  
We left the tent with a beaming Naruto trying to give Sasuke a hug.

~Line break~

Our entrance was a little less then 5 kms away, but we moved at fairly slow pace now that their were no trees to bounce off of. We ghosted around the fence of the dark and ominous looking forest which I estimated to fucking huge based on how large the circumference was. Inwardly I lamented the loss of information from Naruto's clone. Outwardly, I laughed and joked with my teammates. As we got close to our entrance I could feel the tension and anticipation ramp up in everyone. I fought to keep the predatory smile off my face—It was almost creepy how much I looked forward to being in dangerous situations.

We joked around as we passed hostile teams waiting at their gates. I carefully took note of their chakra signatures, doing my best to memorize them, and knowing that I was failing miserably. Finally we arrived at gate 44.  
"That's… foreboding." Sasuke looked slightly unnerved. Naruto glanced at the gate and and waiting chunin as we slowed from our gentle jog to a calm walk.

"What's forbidding mean?"

"Mmm…Foreboding. Ominious, or like…having a bad feeling because you keep seeing signs that bad things are going to happen before they do." I had trouble explaining the shiver and goosebumps I had gotten. He seemed to get it though because he just shrugged.

"I mean it is called the forest of death." The chunin at the gate nodded in agreement with Naruto's words.

"Think you're ready?" The ninja held a senbon in his mouth like one might hold a cigarette. I frowned. (This guy looked familiar. From seeing him around the village or from the tv show, I couldn't tell. Maybe both?)

"As ready as we'll ever be." I answered distractedly. "Naruto, how did you know that?"

"Know what?"

"About the forest! You said you didn't know anything back in the classroom!"

"Eh! I didn't, datebayo!"

"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?" I swear a vein was popping in my forehead. Because surely Naruto wouldn't be holding back information—surely we'd broken that habit in wave.

"I guess…Huh. I can remember going to Hokage tower and looking it up just like you asked, datebayo!" He looked amazed. Sasuke looked disbelieving. And I don't know how I looked, because I had a million thoughts whirling through my head.

The shadow clone jutsu couldn't be that powerful. Surely not. Because if it was…

I let out a manic laugh. Honestly, I probably sounded like a villain, just missing a stock lightning background.  
Because this. was. fucking. incredible.

"Naruto make a clone." He complied, while Sasuke and the throughly creeped out but intrigued examiner looked watched curiously. I pulled the sleeve of the clone and dragged him a few feet over, before standing on tiptoes and whispering in his ear. I tried to pick a long number that he wouldn't be able to guess, then for extra surety, a word I was sure Naruto would never have heard. Then a grabbed a kunai from my leg holster, twirled it out of habit and popped the clone.

The senbon ninja raised his eyebrows in surprise at the coldly efficient way I'd murdered my teammates clone, but Naruto and Sasuke were unfazed. We'd all gotten used to it after sensei had us practice our killing strikes on his clones for an afternoon. (Killing your sensei, then your teammate, when he ran out of chakra, for hours on end in different and increasingly creative ways really broke the squeamishness.)

"Naruto," I asked, trying to hold back my grin and failing (Oh god, if I was right—) "What did I just whisper in your ear?"

"Huh, you…mentioned a really long number that I can't remember and then you said…I don't know how to pronounce it?" He looked confused. "Engerish?" He tried anyway.

"YES!" This was incredible news. The older ninja looked amused at my antics, but I ignored him. Sasuke had his eyebrows raised in surprise at my outward show of excitement. I was normally much more low key, but this was just too good to be true.

"We are fucking set!" I whispered excitedly to my teammates. "We have a freaking sharingan user and a guy with infinite spammable clones." The older ninja was definitely holding back a laugh now.

"Did you guys not know about this before? Although it is rare someone this young would know the technique, so I suppose its possible…" He trailed off.

I blinked up at him innocently, instantly changing from cackling maniac to my demure and benevolent civilian girl persona. "Is there anything else to know shinobi-san?"

He grinned and glanced at a watch. "You want to waste your strategizing time talking to me?"

"I can include this in the strategy." I pointed out.

He let out an amused sigh but smirked at us. "Well, it's usually figured out fairly quickly because most people only have the chakra for one or two clones." ("and they're intelligent" muttered Sasuke) "But after the clone disperses all their memories, thoughts, skills, etcetera, transfer back to the main host. And" he stressed the word and eyed me thoughtfully. "Any other clones that are still around get that information too. Can be a bit overwhelming if they're doing vastly different things. But clearly you've been assimilating."

He smiled down at Naruto, then glanced back at his watch. I took the hint that we were going to be starting any second.

I blinked rapidly, trying to assimilate all this information. "Naruto what'd you learn about the forest?" I asked distractedly, still formulating a plan.

"It's a training ground for chunin and up, datebayo! Supposed to be full of dangerous stuff. Poisonous plants and animals. And the animals are supposed to be really big. And—"

Sasuke groaned cutting him off. "Naruto, short and to the point like a brief. We've practiced those. We don't have time for all this." He waved his arm gesturing to absolutely nothing and grimaced.

Naruto glared at him and crossed his arms defiantly, but spoke up again, much more clearly and faster. I ignored their antics and shut my eyes taking it all in. "It's a training ground for chunin and up. Dangerous animal and plants in there. Not much water other then a river that cuts right through the middle. Theres an old watch tower from one of the wars, but its gets used by chunin who rent out the training ground over multiple days as a safe place to sleep. That's about it I thin—OH! I almost forgot. A lot of the trees are really old and are supposed to hold chakra really well. So they get layered with genjutsu every few months to increase paranoia and and lower inhibitions. I don't know what that means though. It was just something I read that I thought you'd want to know." He finished apologetically.

I nodded my head and let Sasuke explain it to him. When he finished, I began thinking out loud for my teammates sake. I glanced at the chunin as I spoke and he merely gave another pointed glance to his watch. (Getting kinda fucking annoying I'll tell you. A nice out loud reminder would be better then subtle hints…)

"Alright guys. Here's what I'm thinking. The second the gates open, we sprint for the tower. Two reasons; one: Naruto you're really good with traps and between your trap laying skills and Sasukes genjutsu to hide them, we have a good chance at taking a team by surprise. Second reason is because its a smaller area to cover without sensory ability. Two types of teams will finish obtaining the scrolls early." I held up two fingers for emphasis.

"The first kind of team will be those strong enough to fight another team and obtain a scroll through brute force. We want to use Naruto's sensory ability to avoid those teams."At Naruto's expected outburst, I shook my head sharply. "NO! Naruto! It's not about our ability or fighting the best!" I cut him off. " This is about thinking smart! We don't know what we have to do after this part of the exam. If theres a third part directly after this, I want to have as much chakra left as possible! I feel like they're messing with us; three days in the woods and thats it? When the tournament is so far off? I'm expecting another round of something after the forest." At Sasuke nod of agreement and Naruto's pout, I continued.

"The second kind of team will be those able to get a second scroll by specific ability. And like I was saying before, we're more well rounded then most other teams—but we still do have a combat emphasis. Which means if we pick our target carefully, we can surprise them, take them out quickly and be close enough to the tower that we can avoid retribution. Revenge." I quickly noticed Naruto's confusion. He nodded in agreement.

"Not that I disagree," Started Sasuke, as he proceeded to disagree "But other then proximity from the forest, wouldn't we have a better chance grabbing a team somewhere like the river that runs through the forest? Not everyone brought supplies so we're bound to see some teams there."

I grimaced. "I thought about that but… While we're more likely to meet stronger teams by the tower because obviously if they managed to get a scroll, they're skilled in something. But based on what Naruto said about the genjutsu laid on the trees, I want to be as far out of the forest as we can get. Lowered inhibitions doesn't just mean bad team dynamics. It means poor decision making and irrational thought. Speaking of which, after this, we need to design a code. Specific to team seven, so that we can figure out who is who in case we get split up. Too late for that now…But I guess we can make up a code word?"

"Engerish?" Naruto suggested.

I shook my head. "No…hmm how about we just use a security question. Something that you spoke about with only that teammate. We've each had private conversations on the Wave mission at least. Think your question in advance but don't actually ask it out loud."

Both boys nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so while thats the general plan—"

"It's time."The chunin moved forward and unlocked the gate for us. "Good luck!" He seemed genuine in his well wishing.

"Fuck!" I hadn't finished going over the plan. What on earth had I been thinking about earlier prattling on about team types rather then getting everyone ready for this?

"Fuck" I repeated with feeling. "Okay…um Naruto, make a few dozen clones and have them all go out in a general fan search. Henge them to look like" I had a sudden spark of inspiration. "Like that leaf guy form before, with the glasses?"

There was a few bursts of smoke around us and then we were suddenly surrounded by a tall looming genin in unassuming purple.

"Okay fan them out so we can use them as sentries. If you notice any new memories, let us know so we can avoid being attacked. Otherwise, were going to sprint as fast as we can towards the center of the forest where Anko-san said the tower was. No talking and we're all trying out best to muffle chakra and sound. Remember the lesson from Sensei!"

The boys both winced and I turned away from them. I gave a slight bow to the proctor who'd opened the gate for us. His comment about shadow clones had been the most helpful thing we'd been told all day.  
"Thank you shinobi-san! Alright team seven lets go!"

We all moved through the gate and the world instantly grew quieter. Our footsteps crunching on the earth seemed to echo.

"Sound suppression seals." Sasuke breathed. "we have to be very quiet." He gave Naruto a pointed look. I nodded in agreement, then gestured for Naruto to sprint up the tree first. He, along with all his clones ran up a tree, followed by myself, then Sasuke. Once we were about two -thirds up the tree, we kicked off the tree and hopped to the branches, then proceeded to move branch to branch taking care to land as exactly on the previous persons foothold as we could.

(That limited chance of triggering a trap because the first person hadn't triggered it, and also hid number of traveling ninja in your party. Kakashi-sensei was great to learn shit from because he had all kinds of neat little tricks he was willing to show us when we bothered to ask.)

The Kabuto clones who had dispersed in their own directions (further thawing off our trails) and were quickly out of sight, and the forest once again regained its eerie silence.

~line break~  
We traveled in silence for about two hours before Naruto gave a quick handling indicating he had to us the bathroom. I indicated back to Sasuke, although I was sure he saw and we all came to a smooth practiced halt. All of us quickly went, backs to each other as we used bushes in proximity. (I ignored the voice in the back of my head screaming for privacy. Medical students could get that. Ninja not on missions could get that. Me, in a dangerous forest? Not right now.)

After that break, we again began our breakneck speed to the center of the forest. I knew Naruto must be sensing all around him, and I copied him, also on the lookout for genjutsu and traps. I felt fairly redundant, however.  
Sasuke would notice any genjutsu the second they fell over us. And Naruto, who could lay traps in the academy that would fool even his anbu pursuers, would notice them faster then either of us, once we'd explained to him that he needed to look out for them. Still, it would do to let my skills grow rusty and like dad always said, 'overconfidence kills.'

Even after night fell, we all continued. I snatched a ration bar out of waist pouch where I'd stashed a few. I tossed one way up ahead, timing it so that Naruto would be able to snatch it out of the air. He had to drop a few feet to a lower branch, but he made it. I also tossed one behind me for Sasuke, before digging in to my own.

I observed Naruto running in the dark. He didn't seem to be having any trouble seeing even though it was near pitch black by now. While all three of us were feeling the beginnings of exhaustion, he still didn't stumble over any of the stray branches as we ran.

I wasn't sure if that was a testament to his stamina, or to the demon I knew he had. Maybe it was a mix of both. Did Jinchuriki have better night vision than the average ninja? I knew Sasuke's sharingan compensated well enough for him, although it wasn't as good as a byakugan or a Nara's eyes.

Even in the moonlight of a waning moon, I could see clear as day. (Honestly, this whole world could get fucked. The sharingan gets super overpowered, but I get awesome night vision and really tired during the day. Life just wasn't fair sometimes. At least I was lucky enough to have been born a clan brat.)

Naruto gave us some scattered reports as we ran. He signed to us as quickly as he could (which wasn't very quick, but he was getting better.) Each time a clone burst. The first two were from fights 'far away' while the third was a clone that had self dispersed to inform us that Kiba's team had already engaged another team in a fight and gotten another scroll.

We reached the tower about three hours after midnight, based on the moons position in the sky. It was an intimidating structure, large and robust; made from stone which was an uncommon building material in our forest. I hardly spared it a glance. This had been a very long day and I was ready to knock out. Unfortunately, that wasn't yet an option.

I quickly signed to the two boys, 'perimeter check', 'sense', 'enemy', 'traps', 'disarm', 'traps', 'arm'.

They both gave signs of agreement and we moved in a tight triangle formation with Sasuke and I covering Naruto as he laid traps. We ran across a few traps, but quickly disarmed them. Naruto noticed a team sleeping in a tree hollow about a mile from the tower. I hesitated before waving off the two. 'sleep', 'chakra','low'.

That got another sign of agreement from the two equally exhausted genin. After our first circuit of laying traps, we did another quicker lap, to identify any immediate threats, be they animals or hidden ninja. We were actually quite spread out, with an overall radius of about five miles from the center of the tower. Although both boys wanted to skip the third lap, I insisted on doing it.

The third lap was to identify a safe sleeping area. By the time we were finished with this, dawn was breaking and one whole day of our time in the forest was done. A brief argument between myself and Naruto was settled by an irate Sasuke who gestured towards the rocky outcropping Naruto had suggested. I frowned but followed them in. Naruto quickly formed some clones who moved rocks from the back of the cave towards the front to block the entrance.

"Clearly if theres already rocks here to be moved, someones already used this hiding spot!" I hissed.

"Stop shouting, your voice echoes in the cave and you're going to cause an avalanche!" Naruto shot back, also not whispering.

"Are you dumb or just stupid? What avalanche am I going to cause 15 feet off the ground? Because that's were we are. Trapped in the air with no exit point if someone decides to throw a smoke bomb in here. OR WORSE."

Our voices steady grew in volume as we stepped closer and closer to each other. I was snarling and Naruto had an equally unpleasant look on his face. Sasuke shoved up apart. "Shut. Up." His voice was quiet, but left no room for argument.

"I dont know why you're agreeing with him of all—" "Kage-chan. I mean it. Shut up. Apparently you cant talk at a reasonable volume—"Sasuke's voice had never risen from his whisper, which just made me more mad. "So you don't get to talk. First watch is Naruto's clone. Wake me in two hours. I'll wake Naruto, then he'll wake you. That'll be 6 hours sleep and 8 hours total rest per person." He glared at both Naruto and I.  
"No more talking and no more glaring until we all sleep."

He ruffled through his pack and pulled out a sealing scroll. He pulled a bed roll form out of roll. Still annoyed, I copied him. Naruto did the same from his other side. Seething, I shut my eyes, angry thoughts still whirling around my head.

Suddenly I was being shaken awake.

"Whaa?" I was immediately shushed by a tired looking Sasuke.

In the same quiet voice he'd been using since we first entered the forest of death he spoke. "Your turn for watch. Stay inside the cave if you can. The further away from the trees we all stay, the better."

I nodded in agreement and mentally kicked myself. As I watched Sasuke climb back into his roll, I sat down near the front of the cave and wondered if I had really been thinking irrationally.

Sadly, I was pretty sure I had been. 'I was the one who warned us to avoid the trees. I included being away from the trees in our plan! Did I really pick a fight with Naruto over it?'

The problem was even thinking back, I was positive my actions were reasonable. I was always reasonable. I still felt justified in my words and actions even though I knew in the back of my head I should be using them as a lesson of what not to do on a mission. Which made me feel ten times worse. I was so certain that I was reasonable and right; had I let myself be taken in to a false sense of security?

My sour mood hung over me the entire two hour watch. I tried my best to shake it off before waking up a sleeping Naruto and Sasuke. ('Focus on the mission.' I channeled my dad.)

Once we were up and sorted for the day, the anger of the previous fight faded. Naruto and I shared a quick awkward apology, more on my part then his. I also gave a conciliatory head nod to Sasuke, who I figured would appreciate the quiet, wordless gesture, considering how much he avoided speaking.

We quickly packed our belongings and each pulled out another ration bar. Munching on it, I remarked out loud, "We need water."

Naruto signed his agreement emphatically, and exaggerated panting like a dog. I smirked at him and looked at Sasuke. He hesitated then nodded in agreement with me.

(I wouldn't admit it out loud but the fact that he hadn't immediately agreed with me on a necessity like water hurt. Because, logically, we needed to refill our canteens and hydrate at some point. But I pushed the hurt down because Sasuke had every right to doubt me. Because in this genjutsu filled forest, I should be doubted. I had made stupid and irrational choices the night before that needed to be second guessed. It didn't stop the hurt. I ruthlessly crushed down the emotion.)

I quickly finger spelled 'Kabuto' then signed 'enemy' '?' to Naruto. He shook his head. I rolled my bedroll up as he reported.

"Clones burst after then went to sleep; no information from them. I don't think I have any others left." Naruto reported to us in the quietest voice I'd ever heard him use.

I nodded in agreement and finished tying up my pack, my sealing scroll once again stored within it. Standing up, I looked at my teammates and gestured for them to head out. Naruto once again took the lead, with us following close behind. Before we left the area by the tower, but far enough from our cave to avoid the attention, Naruto again made a dozen clones. HE henged them back into Kabuto without me having to ask (bless his heart, he's learning) and they split from our party to go monitor our traps and scout teams. (I assumed. But knowing Naruto, even after our intense talks with him about teamwork, maybe they were going to try and take down another team. I could never be sure)

We hadn't crossed the stream yesterday, but we'd heard something as we were running, so Naruto led us back to that direction. It was already about noon of the second day, but I wasn't worried. There were a lot of teams that had entered the forest; we weren't even halfway through our time limit.

It took us about an hour to reach the small stream. I doubted it was the large river that Naruto had read cut through the training ground, but that was all the better for us because it meant we were less likely to meet up with people. We each filled our canteens from the tributary and dumped a chlorine pill in them. I instructed the two through sign that we were to wait five minutes. We stood around, eyeing our surroundings until the time was up, then dutifully knocked back the water. I drank until I was uncomfortably full, then drank some more until the canteen was empty. Once it was finished, I quickly knelt back down to the stream and refilled the canteen. I again popped a chlorine tab. Naruto went through two more cycles of this before he was sated.

I didn't begrudge him the water or the time it took; being dehydrated would mess with every one of a ninja's skills. For this test, I wanted all of us to be in tip top shape. (I mentally catalogued all the pills I was carrying in my pack, including a chakra replenishing pill; I should really keep one in my pocket or side pouch for easier access…)  
The way back to the tower took even longer then the journey to the stream; Naruto lead us on a large circuitous route, signing enemy to us as he guided us.

Still, we reached the perimeter of our traps before sunset which made me pretty happy. Naruto shut his eyes and focused on the surroundings while I sat quietly, sensing my surroundings only half heartedly, instead focusing more on the tactical plan we'd need to take down a team.

Naruto sat up abruptly, making Sasuke and I jolt up as well. He honored us with a feral smile. "A sand team fell into one of our traps." The same grin joined mine and Sasuke's face as I gestured for us to huddle together.

Whispering even lower then I had ever heard Naruto speak, he informed us about the team. "Two girls and a guy. One of the girls was carrying a scythe and the other girl wasn't carrying anything. The guy had a lot of knives, cause he tried to cut the rope right away. They look older then us, Maybe a little younger then Kabuto looked? And they weren't very fast. They got caught in the first part of the trap, ya know, the distraction for the second part? And they were really loud. I heard them almost as soon as I sensed them. And they were walking…like on the ground, not in the trees." He added the end bit almost as an after thought. (it was pretty hard to fathom that tree walking, while able to be learned by any and all capable ninja was really a Konoha skill. Perhaps other villages didn't bother showing genin how to do it.)

I nodded. It wasn't much information, but it was enough.

"Ready for the fun part?" I held back the disney villain cackle this time. (with great effort)


	15. Chapter 15

Honestly...I have no excuse. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.

Sorry this took so long, I honestly had so much trouble writing this chapter in particular. I have most things planed out after this, but I needed this chapter to go a certain way for it to be good to release. I was talking to someone about beta'ing but I never got back to them. Hopefully they are still interested even thought I went MIA. Still, for the next chapter you can expect slightly higher quality spelling and grammar at the very least. As always please review what you think or if you have any questions. Anyway, please enjoy:

~Line break~

Murphy's law: Anything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong, at the most inopportune time possible.

There's no direct equivalency that I've found in Japanese. Kind of like idioms. I can translate the idea and explain the meaning to people, but they wouldn't quite get what I was talking about; not really. Murphy's law was like that but maybe even more difficult considering hadn't even crossed my mind in years.

(As a further aside to my original aside, I didn't think I would ever forget English— it was my native tongue— but I already thought in Japanese, and only ever spoke the one language. Some phrases were beginning to slip out and I couldn't quite force myself to memorize a dead language. Honestly, it was more worthless then Latin had been in my med school application.)

I think it had something to do with my dad's comments. 'Overconfidence kills' and the like. That reminder had replaced the english equivalent, and short simpler phrases hung out in my brain like: hindsight is 20/20. Things that didn't need more explanation. But Murphy's law should have been at the forefront of my mind because Murphy's law tells you to be prepares for the worst possible situation. But of course I wasn't thinking of it. Because, like the law states, it is _the most inopportune time_ and if I had been thinking of it well then it wouldn't have been that inopportune would it?

But I'm rambling. Let me explain what happened:

With the news of a team caught, Naruto and Sasuke looked to me eagerly.

"Here's what I'm thinking…" I began with a meaningful look around me. Naruto and Sasuke got the hint and looked around for opposing teams as well. When Naruto gave us an all clear thumbs up, we continued.

"They're already trapped. We don't know whats coming after this. Let's go to where they are but stay out of sight. Just monitor the situation. Send in some clones henge'd to look like us and have them do all the work. Mock them a bit, grab their scroll, meet up with the clones, give the scroll to someone who wasn't seen holding it, and then sprint as fast as we can to the tower."

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement, his face still passive. Naruto meanwhile looked pretty disappointed.

"No fighting? Kage-chan, we've trained really hard, ya know? And the first part was super boring. Let's go find a team and beat them up, datebayo!" His fairly innocuous whisper raised to a near shout by the end. Sasuke slapped in the back of the head to shut him up but I just sighed indulgently.

"Naruto, I get it, but it's safer this way. When we're chunin, we can go on harder missions that require more fighting. But for the sake of passing this test, we can't afford to make any mistakes."

Naruto didn't look convinced and he swung his head back and forth between his two teammates.

Sasuke Hnng'ed in agreement ( I think) and I scowled at him. (Was it really that hard to speak up and add a few real word to the conversation? I mean I was supposed to be the lazy one after all.)

"Look." I said desperately. "How about I pay for a trip to the ramen stand after this is all over? I'll cover your first three bowls if you just go with the simple, easy plan."

"DEAL, DATEBA-OW" Sasuke came in clutch with another slap to Naruto's head.

We hit no snags on the way there. We ran in the same formation we'd entered the forest, Naruto leading myself and Sasuke, each of us trying to be as quick and silent as possible. I was grateful for Kakashi's tips on foot placement. Because we all ran single file, a tracker might guess that there was just one heavy footed ninja running here. Meanwhile, I could see traces of groups of ninja having run over this same path recently. Probably the same ninjas that were caught in our trap.

When we got closer, we broke off from the path we'd been following and instead dropped to a deserted clearing. Naruto quickly made three clones, that hanged to look like us. A few moments later, they left the circle, and the three of us were alone.

Sasuke signed 'contact made?', but Naruto just shrugged. I signed back as quickly as I could, trying to finger spell as little as possible.

'information received after C-L-O-N-E dead'

Sasuke looked like he wanted to smack his forehead for forgetting, but stopped himself. Internally, I frowned. Before, Sasuke had been the best of all of us at acting rationally. We'd been in the forest for less then 2 full days however and he'd just asked a question that made him seem as clueless as…well Naruto. Maybe his judgement was starting to be affected.

(Which was _really really really_ bad. After all, I thought this plan was a good idea, and so had Sasuke. Maybe it was a terrible idea though, and we should have listened to Naruto.)

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I mulled over that idea. Maybe I had misinterpreted the point of the second exam. Perhaps we were supposed to fight. Why else throw enemy ninja into a remote location for a few days? Oh _no_ this was supposed to be a battle royale , and I was over here trying to be a suave James Bond.

'Okay?' Sasuke signed at me, interrupting my wild thoughts. I shook my head mournfully at him, making Naruto look between us panicked. I was having an existential crisis because part of me realized I couldn't even compare myself to James Bond in a world that he didn't exist in.

'Not okay' I signed back and sighed. I'd never be okay. God, why did I have to have a crush on the James Bond actor in my past life. I was 100% blaming my forever genin status on him.

While Naruto and Sasuke clumsily signed back and forth, I dropped to a crouch and put my head in my arms, my elbow on my knees. The two of them were urgently signing, probably worried about how much I had flubbed the second exam. I leaned my head back and tried to catch a glimpse of the clouds above me. While the sunlight trickled in, there were no large gaps in the tree line—just a canopy of green.

I wondered how Naruto's clones would do with the battle royale. After all Naruto had picked up on the true nature of the exam before I did. Perhaps he wouldn't try talking to the other team at all. Maybe he had already planned on ignoring my directions and instead pulled a typical Naruto—bursting in and charging at them with no plan.

I brightened. _Naruto had henge'd to look like us._ We might still have a chance at passing!

'Okay! I'm okay!' I signed to Sasuke. The two looked unconvinced, which was a terribly odd expression to see on Naruto's face considering his gullible nature, but I rose from my crouch and flashed them a bright grin. That made them look more worried, so I toned down the cheer.

(The smile's I gave out ranged from the 'yea it is nice outside today' smile to the 'If you say another word, I'm going to kill you' smile. This one was probably the same one I had given to Ibiki during the first part of the exam. So definitely a no-no for intra-team interaction. But it wasn't on purpose. There was such a fine line between God, writing is annoying and bloodthirsty interaction.)

We stood in a slightly awkward silence for another few minutes while we waited for the clones. When they arrived, all of them had Naruto's grin on their face. It was weird to see such a pleasant smile on emo boy's face (and mine admittedly but at least I did smile occasionally, even if it was usually a tool to unsettle people out.)

All together they had been gone for less then 10 minutes. They all flashed us a thumbs up, then dispersed, leaving a single scroll behind. And it was the same scroll we needed. I wanted to let out a cheer.

We were halfway there. We had two scrolls. We were within the time limit. We had managed to get close to the tower. We hadn't let the forest mess with our thinking too much either. At least I don't think I did. Minus the slight freakouts. If anything, Naruto and Sasuke had been really weird earlier with the signing.

Things couldn't get any better.

I walked over and snatched up the stolen scroll, turning it over in my hands. It looked the exact same as the other one we had, except it was different Kanji on the outside. 'Heaven and Earth' I wondered what the meaning was.

Sasuke motioned for me to put the scroll away and I looked back with raised eyebrows. I comically pointed at myself and had to stop myself from looking over my shoulder. Because I genuinely couldn't believe he was telling me to hold on to the scroll.

Personally I thought Naruto should get them both. But then again, I also really didn't want to make myself a target by holding on to this. I was pretty biased.

I shrugged while Naruto snickered. I uncaringly shoved the scroll into my upper thigh pouch, where I also kept my shuriken and some medicinal sachets.

Naruto was bouncing with excitement and Sasuke couldn't even hold back a grin. I straightened up from the crouch and adjusted my clothing. I was standing at attention in my eager pose, uncharacteristic of my normal slouch. I didn't want it to be obvious I was holding the scroll, but I was so excited at our good fortune. My lips turned up again into anticipatory smile, which my teammates matched before I gestured to Naruto and motioned for him to lead back up to the tree tops. He eagerly jumped to the nearest tree, racing up it. I followed him, trying to match his quick pace. Sasuke followed right behind me, close on my heels. Naruto took us all the way to the top of the trees, till our heads almost brushed above the canopy. I enjoyed that there was more sunlight up here, but despaired how obvious we could be up high compared to down below.

Still being up high gave us an advantage watching for other teams. We made good time running to the tower and burst out of the trees just as the sun was beginning to set on the second day in the forest.

We'd evaded two other teams on our hasty journey, in part to Naruto's sensing, but also thanks to Sasuke's sharp eyes. Out here by the tower there was no sign of any teams, but I was still hesitant. Someone might have trapped the door after all.

That worry didn't seem to plague Naruto, who moved forward with purpose, shoving the heavy door open and stepping right in to the old tower.

The inside reminded me of a gymnasium from my old life. The floor was tiled, and clearly worn from over the years, however the large room was fairly clean for being an abandoned tower, In the back corner were doors, most likely to other rooms and stairs to get to the top of the tower. On either side of the room were stands built in like a shelf to the wall. And directly in front of us was a large tower with word written on it.

"Which is stronger: The powers of heaven or the powers of earth?" Naruto read aloud for us.

I tilted my head. Powers of earth was most likely physical prowess. Taijutsu and the like. The powers of heaven…was that supposed to be heaven as in the opposite of earth, in this case everything not taijutsu such as ninjutsu or genjutsu? Or was I misreading it and perhaps earth was all encompassing in what it meant to be a ninja… which would mean that heaven was talking about the authority above us—the village, its elders, the hokage.

Or maybe I was over thinking it. Perhaps it was a question that didn't matter. Most likely, which ever you chose you opened a scroll for. It seemed pretty subjective to me. Maybe it didn't matter which scroll you picked, and either one was the correct answer.

Or maybe neither one was the right answer. We'd been told not to open the scrolls in the forest.

But this wasn't the forest, this was the tower. Although a pedant could argue that the tower was in the forest.

"Ma, this is hard." I complained as I dropped to the floor sitting cross legged in my thinking pose. Sasuke scoffed.

"This isn't hard. A ninja need the powers of heaven and earth to be a true shinobi. An over balance of one will lead to failure. "

I tilted my head the other way thinking about it. Naruto looked at us cluelessly. I ignored him. This would be so bothersome to explain considering me and Sasuke hadn't even come to the same conclusion.

"You're thinking of it as yin and yang, spiritual and physical energy then. Which makes sense; you cant use a jutsu with an imbalance in one or the other. I guess… that makes sense." I tested it out loud. "Yin and yang…Heaven and earth. Okay, I guess I can see it. It's not what I thought of at all really, but your guess is as good as mine."

He nodded importantly and I rolled my eyes, pulling the scroll I had out of my pocket and tossing it to Naruto. He caught it, barely.

"EH? Whats this? Why arn't you hiding it anymore Kage-chan?" Sasuke took his turn to roll his eyes.

"Pay attention Dobe. We're going to open the scrolls now. Both of them." Naruto turned to me for confirmation, but I just shrugged helplessly. I could only hope that the officials weren't as pedantic as I would be. (This tower was totally still in the forest. There were loopholes and then there were _loopholes._ I didn't want to lose on a technicality. I liked _wining_ on technicalities, not the other way around. )

Naruto took no more convincing then that, reaching to his oversized pack and pulling out his own scroll. With both in hand, he popped them open. Instantly, they began to smoke.

"What the—" My question was interrupted by Naruto flinging the scrolls across the room with a small squee.

Just in time as well. A ninja popped out of the smoke, (A reverse summing scroll. I hoped we could keep the scrolls after this. While I wasn't interested in studying sealing, I could probably—maybe— copy this seal. And how cool would that be? I'd be a teleporter)

The ninja looked super bored.

"Congrats on finishing the second round of the chunin exam. You have seen the question, although it is more a riddle then a question. Which is more important? Heaven and earth are both traits expected of chunin. Can you use your physical and your spiritual talent in purpose to you village? They need to be used in tandem to avoid mistakes. Think of it like a jutsu. If you don't have enough stamina, or enough physical energy, there will be no jutsu. A ninja without heaven however has no chance at succeeding either. Balance is key to the chunin. Now, you've made it to the tower and I see you have both required scrolls.

"You'll have to wait here in the tower for the time limit to expire. There are rooms off to the side you can use. There will be no fighting with other teams while you wait for the time to expire." He waved a lazy hand to the door I noticed when we entered. His voice never changed from the bored monotone he'd started with. There was no inflection of excitement from his dry "congrats" to the rest of his speech. I felt my eyes drifting closed.

(Maybe the test wasn't actually over. Maybe we had to stay alive through his dead boring speech. The thought woke me up a little.)

"Depending on how many participants make it here within the time frame, there may be a preliminary round at the conclusion of the time expiring." (I twitched when he said expiring again. It was such an odd word to use…but he kept saying it, even when it didn't fit. Was he doing it on purpose? Was this how he messed with people? I preferred sensei and his tardiness to his monster. Although maybe I was just tired and nitpicking.)

The chunin shifted from one leg to the other.

"There should be no leaving the tower now that you have entered. If you chose to leave, be it for supplies or for fun, you will need both a heaven and an earth scroll to reenter."

I frowned. That meant we couldn't keep these two scrolls. No fair. But at least we'd thought to bring food. No way could I last in a tower for 3 more days with no food. And I had no interest in going back out, hunting for food and then hunting down two _more_ scrolls. As for water…that might be an issue. We'd have to see with they had indoor plumbing here. I could only hope.

"If thats all, than goodbye." He grabbed the two scrolls from the ground while Naruto bounced behind me, unable to calm himself down. Once the ninja had popped away, Naruto raced towards me, pulling me up and towards the doors to the side. Sasuke followed at a much more sedate pace.

After we got settled in a room, we relaxed as much as reasonably possible. The room we picked had 6 beds, all bunkbed style, built out of stone with a simple futon thrown on them. We fortunately had the room to ourselves, and while we wouldn't mind sharing with another Konoha team if required, we preferred not to.

And for now, there was no need. After all, we were the 3rd team to arrive and there were dozens of empty rooms left. The only other teams were team 8—Hinata, Kiba, and Shino— and the sand team with the future kazekage. But the red head wasn't present. When I had dared to ask an angry Temari, she had simply shuddered but announced that Gaara was back in the forest.

"Don't worry. He already has the required scrolls to get back in." Kankuro assured me.

I just raised an eyebrow in silent admiration. I knew Gaara—that was his name— was going to be a strong leader one day, but I would never have guessed his peaceful attitude would let him try so hard in the exams. Then again, you have to prove you're the best if you want to be noticed. And besides, this was probably child's play to him. It was to team 7 after all…we'd arrived with no injuries, unlike team 8 which had a lightly bandaged Kiba and a slightly tired looking Shino. Hinata looked as unflappable as ever.

We spent our time relaxing, but strategizing. We discussed our opponents. A possible preliminary round most likely meant straight fights, so I tried to analyze our opponents and look for Naruto and Sasuke's strengths. Even just a day had cleared my head from the genjutsu in the forest. I had pulled each of my teammates aside and apologized for my behavior in the forest. Naruto had laughed it off and shyly rubbed the back of his head, making him look super adorable and awkward at the same time.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had graciously accepted the apology with a nod and a small, "We're teammates. We covered for you."

Still, I felt bad. Sometimes Sasuke could really piss me off, but more and more often he was proving to be a genuinely awesome teammate that I got along with just as well as Naruto, if not better. He deserved a full explanation:

I expanded on my apology sheepishly, "You know that genjutsu really messed me up. At one point I was convinced that Naruto had the right idea and we should just fight anyone and everyone. I was convinced that Naruto was the voice of reason."

Sasuke looked horrified at the thought and I nodded sagely. "Please, if I'm ever affected by genjutsu—and I suggest taking the Naruto approach— just end my suffering right there."

He promised me. " I swear it."

As we got closer to the expiration of the time limit (fucking chunin guy, couldn't get him out of my head for the life of me, I was even using his phrasing and wasn't that annoying), more ninja teams trickled in. All of the rookie teams, as well as Kabuto's team. Another two leaf team I didn't recognize but looked sightly older then us. Only two sand teams, one of which now included a safely returned Gaara. Two sand teams. Only one grass team, but they looked completely uninjured. A sound team barely made it in, looking like they had suffered pretty bad injuries in the forest.

And it looked like that was it. Although mathematically there was room for at least one more team, no one showed up. I figured Gaara grabbing two scrolls to get back in probably stole their chance, but still, this was really impressive. I expected more people to have failed this stage.

We had another few hours before the time limit completely expired, but by this point, I was getting restless. Team 7 had spent the past 2 days doing nothing. We couldn't spar, not if we didn't want to give up any of our secrets. We also could only strategize so much. I introduced Naruto to yoga, but he didn't take to it like Shisui had. Unsurprisingly Naruto wanted to do something involving more movement.

We spent a lot of time playing cards, just like back in Wave.

I felt like a prisoner in this stupid tower, and inwardly (and outwardly when Naruto and Sasuke didn't tell me to shut up) cursed Kakashi sensei for enrolling us in this bullshit exam and making us do all this work.

I was in the middle of one of my rants (which were becoming works of art, I'll tell you) when we were walking back to our room. Let me explain the layout of the tower. All the corridors were tucked into the back of the tower, behind the grand atrium we'd first walked in on. All the rooms were to the side of the atrium, but inaccessible unless you entered through the corridors. The corridors had two stairwells, although each was accessed through the same door in the atrium. Basically, you were looking at a u shape where the bottom part of the u was the corridor and the rooms to sleep were the sides of the u.

It was a well thought out layout for a military ready base. For practical everyday use, it was annoying. Walking up the stairs to get to my room was already bothersome, but then I had to trudge further down a hallway to get to it. Thankfully, the corridor had windows because the bedrooms had none, intensifying the prisoner feeling I kept having.

All the Konoha rookies had roomed in the same wing, on the same floor, which was one of two floors open to genin participants. (I assumed that there were more being used by proctors and the like, but really I had nothing to go on and I didn't like making assumptions. You know what they say and all…)

Because the time limit had almost expired, we were returning to our room to grab the rest of our supplies. We weren't stupid enough to leave anything important there, but little things were scattered around the room; Sasuke and I had left out last game of cards unfinished as well as our makeshift chips littered on one of the empty beds.

Naruto had left his crafting supplies in the room as well. (He promised us a giant prank in the upcoming weeks to celebrate our promotion, but refused to tell us what it would be. I only knew that it involved lots of paint and something really smelly. And maybe feathers, but perhaps he'd just ripped the futon when he was working on something.)

(I had also left what I was calling my basic book, something I had taken up reading. It was a lazily written fiction book with a sinfully simple plot. I was addicted. It was just such a feel good kind of story where the hero always prevails and gets the girl. I had glared when Sasuke teased me for it, and when Naruto had joined in, I had laid down the law.

"So help me, if you tease me about this one more time, I'm going to tell sensei that I feel like our teamwork is waning. Let's see how many more lessons he gives us." That had shut them both up. I personally wouldn't mind and I was beginning to think that I was the only one to really appreciate the lessons. After all, Kakashi sensei was a true born genius. His lessons were harsh and imaginatively creative but undeniably effective. A man ahead of his time, I was a devout believer in Kakashi and eery lesson he imparted on us.)

Like I said, we were going back to our room to grab our supplies, safe in our knowledge that we had finished _well_ within the time frame. I continued ranting, relaxed around my comrades. Naruto kept laughing and egging me on, and while Sasuke didn't say anything, from his smirk, I could tell he agreed with my nonsensical rant.

"And another thing! Why would he wear a mask if he wasn't hiding something from us? How can I rely on him if he doesn't rely on me? I don't even know what his face looks like. Maybe that's why he signed us up for the exams so quickly…. it's a village secret and only chunin and above can see it. I guess it makes sense; he's always going on about trust…this is his way of saying it. If we want to see his face, we're going to need to become chunin!"

Naruto cheered, Sasuke gave a cheery Hnng, and a grass nin stepped out from around the corner and stopped our ascent. Our joking stopped abruptly while we eyed the threat. I hadn't even noticed her ahead of me, and while I was relaxed around my teammates, I generally sensed my surroundings without even paying attention. At this point it was second nature. Naruto and Sasuke clearly were just as surprised as me because they looked just as confused as I did.

The kunoichi only had eyes for Sasuke, who looked rather put out by the staring. I took the chance to study her. I tried not to judge, but she was very odd looking. There was no denying that she was striking; tall for a women with sharp planes on her face, making her memorable. Stand out from the crowd. She had a ginormous bow on her back that made her already slim figure stand out. A willowy figure that I would never have in this lifetime, but this wasn't the time to worry about that. More then anything, she looked rather showy, if I was being honest with myself. It reminded me of the two instructors who had dressed to grab our attention.

There was probably a purpose for this kunoichi's outfit. I was curious. But…

But I didn't like that she had confronted us in a dark and lonely hallway, just hours away from the end of the second round. I could ignore curiosity until a more opportune time. For now, I stepped forward, ready to push past this annoyance. I had a prelim match waiting for me.

And then you have Murphy's law, which said that it didn't matter that I had a prelim match waiting for me. Because this was _so much more important._

She didn't speak, instead charging us without a single indication on her face that she wanted to fight. She lunged right for Sasuke, and I jumped to the same side he did. Naruto dodged the opposite side. The hallway was only 2 meters wide, not much room for us to fight, but enough to separate us. I began my seals as I dodged again, still following where Sasuke direction. This hallway was not the best location for me to fight in. While there _were_ windows, I was stuck using weak undefined shadows; the forest blocked a good portion of light from getting near the windows.

The third time, there was no room for Sasuke to move to and he instead engaged. He twirled a kunai into his hand and met the grass ninja in a quick taijutsu battle before they broke apart. And it was quick, more so then I had ever seen a genin move. This grass nin wasn't playing any games. She was _fast._ Faster then Shisui even, although I could be wrong. And Sasuke was struggling to keep up, moving much quicker then normal. Still, I was proud that Sasuke could keep up even for the short match, but then I grimly noted his Sharingan was already active.

'Not good' I thought. Sasuke should hardly need his sharingan on an average genin. And this opponent seemed much better then just an above average genin. They had managed to split us up and engage Sasuke with just three lunges. And Sasuke was losing, make no doubt about it.

I readied myself, keeping my eyes open for an opening, finding myself at the back of the fight, which was good as I no longer needed to dodge. Naruto, meanwhile was making a few dozen clones, enough to clog the hallway. I approved of blocking the kunoichi's movement, but despaired at the lack of escape room for our team. When the kunoichi next attacked, I reached out with my shadow and snatched at her arm when she swung at Sasuke. Or at least I tried to. I had been aiming for her wrist, but instead gotten her upper arm. She impatiently slashed it away and for a second her attention was on me.

Even though she continued to launch a barrage of attacks at Sasuke, her gaze resting on me for a brief moment had halted my movement. It was absolutely terrifying, and the fear was only enhanced when she began slowly releasing her killer intent. I stuttered through my hand signs trying to ignore the rising tension of the corridor.

By this point, I was realizing that Killer Intent is incredibly subjective to whoever is giving it off. I had thought that the worst I would ever feel was Itachi. Itachi had been terrifying in his apathy—my life and therelackof was meaningless to him; I was another body to cut down if only required. Zabuza on the other hand was ruthless and bloodthirsty, making me feel like I was surrounded on all sides by a vicious animal waiting to tear me apart limb from limb.

This Ki was just as terror inducing, forcing the air out of my lungs. This was just as pressing as Zabuza's intent, but as clinically detached as Itachi. It felt like a cat playing with a mouse, before the predestined kill.

Time seemed meaningless; it couldn't have been more then a minute since the fighting had started, but it already stretched longer then the whole time in the forest had felt. Naruto and I were useless, randomly throwing weapons and shadows in. I winced when one of Naruto's shuriken hit Sasuke's shoulder—we were more then worthless, we were making the situation worse.

And worst of all, this was so short an encounter, I didn't think we'd attract any attention. So far the only noises were the grunts of effort from Sasuke and the clang of metal on metal or metal on stone. Occasionally Naruto and I called out techniques, but the grass nin stayed silent. Her chakra never wavered; my own was fluctuation with fear and adrenaline.

Sasuke was slowing down, having taken too many hits. He tried to sidestep a hit and was spartan kicked into the wall, falling to the ground in a slump. I judged an opening and launched myself at the grass nin in a blind attempt at stopping him. It was pure fear moving me and I don't think I'd ever moved faster. My weights were off and my life was in danger. There was no better motivation. I dragged my kunai up as I moved and slashed at the grass nin.

She laughed as she dodged and struck me back in one smooth motion. I'll admit, I dropped like a stone. It had been a hammer punch, straight to the back of my head, with more force then the kunoichi should have been able to use.

Still laughing, the ninja jumped back. It was a creepy laugh. I'd complained about Anko's cackle, but this was intense. Combined with the still roiling killing intent, I felt like the air was solid. Breathing was impossible and I had to force myself to remember—It's okay, breathe. You need to breathe. BREATHE.

Finally she spoke. She still only focused on Sasuke, and I tried to take advantage of this, rolling to my side and pushing myself upright.

"Pathetic." She had an almost serene smile on her face. If not for the look of pure brutality in her eyes, she would look out of place with her headband. She didn't have a mark on her except for a slightly torn sleeve where an errant shuriken had shredded the hair was unmussed.

Sasuke twitched, and Naruto shouted unintelligibly at the woman, but I stayed frozen. I could only hope that she was just testing us before the preliminary—because maybe if she was just testing us, she would let us go. (maybe there was someway to leave this encounter and still live)

"You know, I searched the forest for you for _days._ I was worried that you were met by another team—that you were weak enough to just die." She creeped towards Sasuke, her gaze unrelenting. Naruto feel quiet; her words, the way she spoke—it was disconcerting.

"Imagine my surprise and delight! You'd made it to the tower with days to spare!" She was right over Sasuke now, leering at him. Her tone changed to one of mocking surprise, "And this is all you have to offer? This is how strong you are?"

Sasuke tensed but gave no other reaction, his gaze just as wary upon the grass ninja.

"You're brother was better than this, you know." her gaze switched to one that was more conversational. " _I can make you better than this._ "

Naruto charged. He launched himself at the grass nin and flung her back into a wall, cracking it into pieces, leaving a hole and allowing some sunshine to peak through.

In that second the feeling in the room changed from the KI of the grass nin to something even worse. I dropped to my knees, actually reaching up to my throat, physically checking to see if something was blocking me from breathing. Sasuke looked as ill as I did and was likewise immobilized. I glanced at my teammate, but his eyes were locked on Naruto.

Naruto had a feral look on his face that didn't look particularly out of place. The feeling of pure _ragemaliceangerhatehatehatehATEHATEHATEHATE_ radiated off of him and his voice vibrated with anger and something more—I wasn't sure with what.

"Leave my team alone."

Even more terrifying then Naruto's transformation was the complete look of annoyance on the grass nin's face. She rose from the ground slowly, brushing dust off of her shirt. Moving like this aura was nothing. Like Naruto was an annoying fly. What confidence he must have in his own skills to be unbothered by this —this _monster._ And truly the term monster was fitting because then she was ripping off her face and there was pale white skin, skin that looked painted on and it looked more manly, less feminine, but borderline androgynous. And this was not the time to care about the gender or our assailant but I was focused on the fact that he..she..they had just ripped their face off and _laughed._

Naruto charged again, swiping at the grass nin, but she dodged. He swung again, but then she was moving, dodging, lunging, rolling. It was a demented dance they were doing, and she seemed to revel in it, even leaning forward to whisper in Naruto's ear. Whatever she said was too quiet for me to hear over the rush of chakra I was feeling, the rush of chakra I was seeing even; Naruto was cloaked in an angry red chakra that seemed to push the air in the room back.

Naruto swung once more and this time the ninja didn't dodge the hit. Instead she grabbed his arm gripping his wrist and laughed as she lifted him off the floor by his forearm. Naruto roared and then whimpered as she squeezed, snapping his wrist.

His hand dangled uselessly at a nauseating angle. I tried to unfreeze to raise myself off of my knees— to do something—those that abandon their teammates are trash; scum; garbage! I couldn't just stand here. But I was moving too slow.

The ninja said something else to Naruto, then socked him right in the stomach. Naruto's eyes bulged. He spit up blood and his momentum knocked him back into the wall. Unlike the kunoichi who had broken the wall, Naruto's perch was thicker and held him up like a demented chair. He slumped over, clearly unconscious, his broken arm hanging out, his wrist bent in numerous unnatural angles, the boone poking almost but not quite through the skin. And all at once the cloying aura had died down and all that was left was the grass ninja's own ki.

And then it was like I was watching everything through someone else eyes because I was reacting to everything, but it all seemed a second too late.

The kunoichi was pulling a sword (shoving it out of his throat with his tongue, in such an inhuman way I couldn't fathom if reality was still working) and it was so gross and sickening and I gagged, but and I saw an opening. I flipped my kunai in my hand and began forming seals as confidently as I could, making the least familiar seals of my family set, stepping forward as quick as I could right between Sasuke and the freak.

And I was quick enough that I was right there, just in time to raise a wall of black shadow, just like I had for Zabuza's attack, a steep angled pillar that would allow the blade to slide up and out of the way with no harm to us.

I knew that behind me, Sasuke was preparing some kind of attack and I half turned to make a passing comment to him, tell him to just run because the ninja was clearly after him and right now _we couldn't fight this._

I was going to say something like that but then my shadow shattered at the impact of the blade.

For all my confidence in my speed, I was so slow turning around. So slow—too slow. Just quick enough to whip my head around and see the annoyed flick of the grass nin's head, swiping the sword at me and dismissing me to the side all in one motion. Too slow to block or dodge the swipe, too weak to actually do anything. And even my brain was slow to respond. My only thought; why did it work with Zabuza and not her? Who was this kunoichi, that she was more powerful then that monster mist jonin.

Time caught up with me a second, and I slammed hard into the wall, leaving a slight indentation. I heard more then felt the pops and cracks of my bones sliding into places that they probably shouldn't be. I didn't even try to get up; there was a sword lodged in my side, literally stuck on one of the bones of my ribs.

I just laid there and watched the neck stretch because she'd attacked with the sword still in her mouth—and it stretched even further then it had to attack me, it was beyond inhuman it was demonic— and the grinning grass nin went and bit Sasuke, right on his upper collar bone, almost his neck, simultaneously striking him in his stomach, causing him to double over.

He dropped and I saw blood trickle out of his mouth.

I was faintly aware that I was in pain, more pain then I had ever felt in this life, perhaps more pain then I'd ever in either life, dying included. Because I wasn't dead (yet) but this feeling sure was similar to the loopy haze I'd fallen into towards the end of my original murder. But even though I knew I was supposed to be incoherent from pain; mentally, I was entirely cognizant. My eyesight had never felt sharper and it was focusing on details. As long as I ignored the black border on the edge of my gaze, I could see details that I probably never would have noticed otherwise. No longer worried about strategies or survival or chakra or anything like that, I laid on the floor and let my brain take in everything going on around me.

Naruto was still in the wall, looking pretty feeble. Sticking out of the wall, he was slumped over and had shown no movement save his wrist which looked straight and unbroken. That was a change that I was blaming on the demon rather then his waking up and magically becoming proficient in medical chakra.

Which speaking of, I should probably try and do _something_ to save my life, maybe try to stabilize myself somehow or at least slow the profuse bleeding I was experiencing.

But… The grass nin was reaching to scoop up a dead to the world Sasuke and I was moving my hands and they should have been forming seals for mystic palm to at least try and hold the remaining blood in my body, but I was reaching for my kunai, the one that I hadn't had a chance to use, it had landed right next to me on the floor and I was trying to force my fingers to listen to me, to respond, to CLOSE AROUND THE KUNAI, _TO DO SOMETHING DAMMIT WHY AM I SO USELESS._

But they kept spasming, not closing on the smooth metal and cloth as I was wanted. I watched as the grass nin tossed Sasuke over his shoulder and I couldn't do anything, and what was the point of the literal years I had spent training with Shisui if my shadow was just going to break, if I was just going to be quick but not quick enough, if I was just going to let my teammate get taken away right in front of my eyes?

And then like a dues ex machina from the heavens, a whip of sand struck at the grass nin. One of the sand siblings- no all of the sand siblings were coming down the stairs. They had turned the corner on this gruesome scene.

Kankuro took one look at the situation and nope'd out. He fled further down the stairs. Tamari froze and the Kazekage got the most insane grin on his face. Somehow getting an instant read on the situation, Gaara struck again at the grass nin.

"Confirm my existence." He laughed, squeezing his hand as he directed his sand to lash out at the ninja. While I was worried about Sasuke's safety, injured and here vs uninjured and kidnapped was a much better situation so I stayed quiet. Also the sharp clarity was beginning to fade making way for a more heady experience as I gave into the pain and nearly floated away on my adrenaline. The edges of the room took on an even fuzzier haze, even as I detachedly watched the fight.

Finally getting annoyed at the constant interruptions, the grass nin forced Sasuke off his shoulder, dropping him to the ground. She turned to focus on Gaara but he just grinned more savagely at the creepy grass nin. Tamari on the other hand, eyed the unresponsive body but didn't move to interfere.

"Good idea" I slurred out in a quiet mumble. If Temari tried to snatch up Sasuke, it might distract Gaara.

Tamara whimpered when the ninja turned his full gaze on fighting Gaara rather then escape, but whatever face the ninja was showing them was turned away from me and I couldn't quite see it. She moved as if to stop Gaara and then thought better of it. She glanced behind her, but Kankuro was still missing. She looked like a frightened rabbit who wanted to run. I wondered why she didn't.

Gaara was slammed into by the ninja and he lashed back. I couldn't move to dodge the debris created by his attack, but thankfully it didn't come near me. Their fight was more focused and localized, basically taking place in the stairwell.

Which is why I was surprised to have concrete fall on me. The wall I was leaning on burst open. The force pushed me forward and I let out a groan as the sword dragged along the stone, still sticking straight up in the air, but now with a tilt to the left as I had shifted. Instead of lying on my side and kind of back, now I was on the flat of my back, squinting in the sunshine and in perfect place to watch the off-white masks and bone white armor jump in through the walls and right over me.

I had the vaguely irrational thought of counting sheep to fall asleep and smiled at the thought of counting ANBU.

I got to three, but I might have missed some because there was a few blurs I wasn't sure about. I only reached three before the haze at the edge of my vision finally spread enough that all I saw was black.

It was a blissful nothing that I fell into.


	16. Chapter 16

Note at the end.

* * *

I floated into consciousness slowly, becoming more cognizant of my body and its state before I did of my surroundings.

First I was aware of a niggling of discomfort that grew as my awareness of the world did, crescendoing into a cacophony of agony. My words were, as usual, less elegant then my thoughts.

"Gah!" Every single breath was labored and I swore the blood moving through my veins aggravated every bruise on me. And I could feel lots of bruises. What hurt more was the memories sliding into place, making me remember my last moments of consciousness. I labored to open my eyes; was this the pain of a new body, a rebirth yet again? Jesus I hope not-let me finally rest in peace.

I peeked through my lashes—nope; there was sensei, peeking at me like a interesting science project, his orange book in hand, but forgotten for the moment. Okay then, same universe, same life, same everything. Which made me flinch a little, memories still clicking into place.

"What happened?" I tried to ask urgently. Instead what came out was a mess of sounds that could charitably be called an attempt at communication.

Sensei seemed to have gotten the message anyway. This is why he was my favorite. He bumped me on the head with the spine of his book and knocked it back into the pillow. I relaxed my head back into the pillow, not having realized I had raised it.

"Maa Kage-chan, you're too excited for someone who just woke up. Relax a little. Where's our lazy Nara?"

Because my eyes where the only part of me that didn't hurt I tried to roll them at him, but I only got like halfway there before I blinked for slightly too long. When I finished my blink, the sunlight that had been in the room was no longer the bright yellow of midday but the softer orange of afternoon. Or morning. Sensei was still there, although shifted to the side, but now there was a doctor in the room as well, fiddling with an IV.

"I hope those are the good drugs." I attempted to speak again. Even though I was still in pain, I had a feeling they were the strong kind of painkillers. Cause oh boy was I having an out of body moment. I tried to wriggle my eyebrows at sensei, but just ended up grimacing.

Sensei look up from his book and quirked an eyebrow at me, humoring me. The doctor frowned down at me.

"You need to stop waking up and rest. Your body has a lot of healing left to go and the faster you go back to sleep, the faster you'll be on the mend." I droned his stern voice out and focused on my teacher.

"Everyone okay sensei?" I was scared to ask, but feigned nonchalance as best as I could in this state. In the back of my head, I had a voice _screaming_ at me: I had failed my teammates. Thankfully, fate had been kind and allowed for help to arrive. Last I remembered anyway. Still, I just needed to know if the anbu had been successful.

Kakashi eyesmiled at me. I found it infinitely reassuring. He closed his book and stood up, getting ready to go. "Ah Kage-chan, you're the worst off of everyone, but I'm off to visit Sasuke next, then Naruto. Everyone's okay…" He reached the door, my gaze following him, each word relaxing me more and more, "…so now you just need to rest and get better. Okay?"

I smiled. Not my normal grin, and not a sarcastic smirk either—more of a pleasant quirk of the lips, quick and ephemeral. Then I went back to ignoring the doctor, shutting my eyes and trying to fall back asleep.

When I woke up next, it was back to daytime. I was still in pain, but the sensation was more vague. My mind felt cloudy and my mouth was dry and my dad was sitting right there next to me. I grinned at him, insanely happy and proud. I had completely forgotten to tell Kakashi sensei.

"Dad, I passed the second part of the exam!" He frowned at my cheerful demeanor, but mom leaned over and whispered "painkillers" so he let it go.

(It probably was the painkillers. I knew the pain existed but holy shit did I feel good. It was like an out of body experience of the best kind. Even better then the last time I'd woken because there was less pain coming from my body and more nothingness. I never wanted to come down from this high, not the least of which was because I was pretty sure I had been cut in two by the grass nin and oh boy was that going to be painful to eventually deal with.)

"Kage-chan, you failed the preliminaries by not attending—" I gasped in horror, but he ignored me and continued on, his face stern. "—but that isn't important right now. What is important is that you tell us _what happened to you."_ Mom grabbed his hand tightly looking at me with such worry in her face. Dad kept his face tight and controlled, but I could hear the tension in his words. I mentally shook my head, realizing how upset mom and dad were.

"Dunno." I tried my best to not come across as insincere. I could tell this was important and so I added to my answer before dad even prompted me. "We were just walking to the room, the big room, with the tiles, and this grass ninja just wanted to fight us. Didn't even say anything really. Not at first, just kind of charged in. Messed us up pretty bad. Later" I recalled. "later she said she'd been looking for us in the forest but that we'd…'disappointed her expectation.'" I struggled to remember the words, before giving up. I shrugged and continued.

"She…uh…well I tried to hit her, she was going for Sasuke, she had just kicked over Naruto…" I stopped realizing my story was all over the place, I was dizzy and out of breath and I was confusing myself. I paused and tried to reformulate my thoughts.

"She hit us pretty hard and Naruto was frustrated. I was trying to support from behind, and Sasuke too, but the grass nin kept going after Sasuke. So Naruto tried to attack him, even had a huge surge of chakra, more then usual, visible chakra even, and grass nin took one look at him caught his punch mid swing. Naruto was moving really quickly too! Maybe faster then I've ever seen him. But she grabbed him and held him by his wrist, and broke it—" my voice trembled here because in the moment there had been no time to react but now my mind kept replaying it over and over again. I shrugged and tried to move one. "—and it broke pretty bad and then she punched him the stomach." I shrugged again—it was an uncomfortable motion and it hurt, but the pain was helping me concentrate over the haze of the drugs so I did it again to focus.

"Shoved Naruto into a wall, he must've hit it pretty hard cause it was all busted. Like the wall was holding him up… anyway," Mom and Dad had their eyes riveted on me. I glanced down at their hands. Mom had dad in a death grip, but dads hands were loose and open; he was kind of like a statue, unable to move. I shrugged again uncomfortable.

"Anyway, he got weird, his neck was stretching and he had this _sword_ and it was in his throat, it was _weird_ but I was trying to move, cause he was going to attack Sasuke, and I was just standing there, _useless_ and this was an opening and then he was there—so fast—I couldn't—I tried."

I gave up on trying to speak, my voice catching in my throat. I distantly noticed I was crying, but the world felt far way and I had tunnel vision and breathing was hard and oh god my chest hurt. And then I was breathing and it was effortless. Sure it hurt, but I didn't have to do anything. It was slow, measured and controlled. I relaxed into it, then felt dad release me from the shadow hold. I struggled to continue the easy breathing he had done for me, but with effort, I maintained it.

I shot a thankful grin to him and mom before turning my gaze back to the blankets which were easier to talk to. "Thanks…." Awkwardly I turned back to dads expectant gaze then turned back. "Then I was out of commission. Couldn't really do anything except watch. The grass nin got even weirder, went and bit Sasuke's shoulder. Then he knocked out Sasuke. Uh then a team from sand came by and helped us out. One of them got scared and ran away, but the other two stayed there. And then I remember the ANBU coming in. And that's about it."

I dearly hoped that if I had to report on this later, I would be allowed to write it down first.(and who was I kidding, of course i was going to need this shit written out in fucking triplicate to every superior I reported to) As far as debriefings go, this was an awful attempt and would normally score a bop on the head from dad for disarray. As it was he just gave me a soft smile, squeezed moms hand and stood.

"I need to report this to the hokage. Kage, speak to nobody about this until you've been cleared by me, the hokage or your sensei.

I nodded tiredly and felt my mom slip her hand into mine as I let myself drift off to sleep.

* * *

The same pattern of waking for a few minutes and then falling back asleep persisted. I have no idea how long I was asleep, nor any kind of perception of time.I can only be grateful that I like naps and was unconscious enough to not hate the hospital otherwise I think I would've gone insane.

As it was, the sixth or seventh time I woke up, I decided enough was enough. Shika was sitting in a chair on my left, the same one sensei had taken to being in when I was awake, but he was slumped over, his head pillowed by the blankets at the end of my bed while he slumbered away. I slowly pulled my leg out of the blanket and slipped out of bed. It was difficult. Sitting upright was even harder, but after a few dizzying moments, I swung myself up off the bed on the opposite side of Shika. Thankfully my room was empty like it normally was—I usually had one or two guests and maybe a doctor or nurse as well—with just a sleeping Shika for company. Using the IV stand as a makeshift crutch and cane, I hobbled my way over to the adjacent bathroom. It took much longer then was acceptable and I was out of breath by the time I got there but I was distantly pleased with my self. I checked myself out in the distorted mirror that was hanging in the room. I leaned on the sink while I gazed at myself, catching my breath from the strenuous twenty step journey I had completed.

My face was…not like it had been. It was… swollen and puffy for one thing. I had broken my jaw when I slammed into the wall. I had also received a long cut from the bottom of my right jaw up nearly to the corner of my right eye. It curved just enough that it tucked behind my cheekbones just to pop out again between my eye and eyebrow. I traced it with a finger, noticing how flat it was. Medical ninjutsu to the rescue. Although I might always have the mark on my skin, the medics had saved me from puckered skin that most certainly had originally accompanied the scar. I didn't remember being hit in the face, but I had slid on the ground a couple times, so maybe sometime then I had been injured.

I catalogued my other injuries. My legs were fine—bruised and sore, but uninjured. The most painful part of my body was my chest and abdomen, where I had suffered the worst of my injuries, but my arms weren't entirely unaffected. I had a still healing fracture in my right arm, again from my collision with the wall.

I glanced behind me, reassured that the bathroom door was still ajar, but mostly closed just like I had left it, then lifted the flimsy hospital gown and eyed the ragged scar that bisected my stomach. Here, the medics hadn't managed to avoid skin puckering. There was also a light discoloration between the scarred tissue and the rest of the skin. It was a vicious wound going from my right hip stomach area up into my ribcage, where it had stopped. I traced the pattern of this scar as well, remembering my anatomy from a past life, reconciling it with my self taught lessons in this new life.

This had probably nicked my kidneys. Surely my spleen. Maybe my appendix. Perhaps my ovaries if I wasn't lucky. Maybe my stomach, but my stomach was probably high enough that it was safe in the ribcage's protection. Perhaps it had hit my core, where my chakra centered for justus, but I doubted it, as off center as it was.

I dropped the cloth and brought my eyes back up to meet their mirror counterparts.

"You almost died." I whispered to myself. I switched to English. It felt strange and cumbersome on my tongue. "You almost died _again_. You were useless. An extra…" That had hurt to realize but wasn't untrue. I had found out from sensei that Naruto and Sasuke were no where near as injured as I was. I had been expendable to the grass nin in a way that Sasuke wasn't. I had been less resilient in a way that Naruto would never be.

"I almost died." I repeated in English, my eyes never wavering from my reflection."That can't happen again."

I nodded to myself in the mirror and stepped back in to my room. Shika was still asleep and the room looked unchanged. Again relying on the IV stand, I moved back over to the bed and grabbed one of the chairs. I rested for a moment before I began my marathon; I awkwardly shoved the chair over to the window. With all the noise, I was surprised that Shika slept through it, but I knew he wasn't faking it otherwise he would've helped me.

Once the chair was by the window, I dropped tiredly into the chair, wincing at the pain to my abdomen. I leaned over the IV stand, dragging it forward by the tube in my arm and fiddled with the flow rate mechanism, forcing it to drop out slightly more of the painkiller for a second before pushing it back into place. It took a few seconds before the medication reached the vein, but once it did, I sighed in relief and relaxed back into the chair watching the hustle and bustle of Konoha go about its day.

I had almost died. But for now I was alive. And honestly, there was nothing more to say for now.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto visited me often in the week before I was released from the hospital. Sasuke kept giving me looks, although I had no idea what they meant, and Naruto kept interrupting conversations to ask me if I was okay.

Between the three of us, I was undoubtedly the worst off, confirmed by an unruffled sensei. Naruto was unfairly in near perfect condition, not even having the shame to look slightly worn out. He was all bright grins and cheery attitude. It was sickening and I couldn't stop smiling back at him and just laughing at his over the top stories even when they hurt my ribs.

Sasuke meanwhile was recovering from internal injures including a ruptured spleen; he'd been hit pretty hard when he was knocked out, but medical ninjutsu was an incredibly powerful force and he was basically already on the better side of recovering. He hadn't been faced with nearly the same amount of blunt force trauma that I had.

Meanwhile I found out from my parents that I had required my spleen be regrown and I'd needed to be pumped full of chakra to preemptively stop my kidney from failing. My appendix had been removed and my large and small intestines had needed to be repaired from the slash. One of my fallopian tubes had been hit as well, but mom had assured me that I was still capable of having children. I just stared at her blank faced wondering what else could have gone wrong. (remember my whole rant about Murphy's law? _No way_ was I falling for that again)

I had asked Sasuke what happened with his neck, but Dad had interrupted me to talk about the medicines I was on while Sasuke gave me another look. (He looked like he was in pain, but I think it was supposed to be a 'significant look'.)

Shika played shogi with me and mom brought me books to read. Naruto told me stories and brought information about what was happening with the exams. Sasuke brought cards and lost to me at every game he attempted.

Sakura came to visit as well, explaining to me what I already knew about my chart, and explaining what I hadn't known about the particulars of my treatment.

Sensei sat quietly with me reading his book. He was waiting for me to start the conversation, but I just wasn't ready. I relaxed in the silence.

I was glad to see everyone-or almost everyone. But I was getting pretty annoyed at being left out of the loop. A loop I was sure Sasuke was in on. Not Naruto, because he was awful at keeping secrets from me. Dad knew—he was jonin commander, of course he knew more then he was saying. Shika wasn't oblivious, but he was willing to let things lie when it wasn't his business.

I wanted to know what was going on. And no one was telling me anything.

Unacceptable.

* * *

This had been on my mind for the whole week now, considering he had been visiting me so often. It was only natural after all considering he was a teammate. He should've expected this from me even earlier in the week to be honest. Unfortunately the best time for my ultra embarrassing but long overdue overture was going to have to take place in front of an audience.

It was the evening of the day before I was due to be released from the hospital and Sasuke had been here all day. He had really learned how to use his words between Naruto and his visits to me. The room was full of tension, because dad had been overly stressed every time Sasuke was in the room with me and never wanted to leave him alone.

Which was part of the problem. Dad was here visiting with me, _again_ which was nice because I knew he had to busy with all the foreigners in the village, but also a problem. I couldn't risk Sasuke leaving before dad, but dad had basically taken to guiding Sasuke out even though he never did with Naruto or sensei or _anyone else._ And so even if this might single handily be the most embarrassing situation of either my first or second life, I needed to do this here and now. In front of my dad.

"Sasuke….I wrote you a ….love note….confession thing. I've never done this before, so I'm pretty embarrassed. So…please don't read it here, it's only going to embarrass me more."

Sasuke looked at me with mixed horror and disgust, but he grabbed the note anyway, gingerly holding it like a weapon of mass destruction. He opened his mouth to say something, probably ask if I had an unknown concussion, but I bulldozed on.

"No, you cant respond yet!" I burned even redder then I already was. Dad was looking between us, alternating worried looks to me and killer ones at Sasuke. He looked baffled, which would have me cracking up under any other circumstance but I was quite literally dying from embarrassment. "My dad's right here, it's so awkward." Dad's frown grew and he looked like he was going to say something. Sasuke looked like a deer caught in headlights, but I _really_ couldn't appreciate the humor in any of this right now. I was absolutely mortified. Which, of fucking course meant that a nurse walked in then and seemed to notice what was going on right away.

She shared a smile with me and started giggling as she went about her duties.I burned even redder.

"TAKE A HINT AND GO AWAY DAD. You too, Sasuke. God this is so embarrassing…" I slammed my head back into the pillow and wished with all my heart to disappear. Rebirth into a new life. I was never going to live this down.

"I'll go home then. You're being discharged tomorrow morning, all things going well, so I'll be back in the morning to bring you home." Dad ruffled my hair gently and kissed me on the forehead, before he turned to leave. "Early morning." He clarified with a glare in Sasuke's direction.

His voice took on a harsher but ultra polite tone. "You can walk me out Uchiha-san."

I heard Sasuke audibly gulp. He mumbled a brief goodbye, still confused about the whole ordeal and hustled out of the room with my dad in tow.

I ignored the spike of chakra I had felt in the ceiling and what seemed like a very pissed off ANBU that was hiding the ceiling.

The nurse gave me another conspiratorial grin. "That Uchiha-san is so nice and polite. He's be by your bedside almost everyday since he was released too you know!"

Spitefully, I spoke slightly louder then necessary, certainly loud enough for anyone spying from the ceiling to hear. "I noticed. What a good friend."

The nurse giggled as she finished up adjusting my IV, then fluffed my pillow and turned to leave, making just one last comment. "And those Uchiha good looks; what's not to like?"

I rolled over, my cheeks burning from embarrassment.

* * *

"That was brilliant. But please god never do it again. I am never going to live this down." Sasuke groaned as he climbed in through my window. I flashed him a grin, more comfortable now that the room had emptied out. The room was shadowed in moonlight and the hospital was a steady hum of beeps and equipment that were slowly driving me insane, former career choice or not.

"Never planning on it. You can let me down easy tomorrow and I'll blame the pain killers." Sasuke looked disbelieving. I explained "Once I'm home, I'm even less likely to find out what's been going on. And I'm definitely missing something right now."

Sasuke nodded in agreement as he made his way over to my bedside, dropping gracelessly into one of my chairs. He unfurled my 'love note' and read it over again, then chucked it at my head. I flinched but didn't dodge it.

"I thought over your questions." He gestured to the hastily written scroll, "But I'm not sure what to think. What I can tell you, is what you don't know yet." He leaned in, his chin resting on his hands, his elbows on his knees, his face intense. "I only know somethings because they thought I was worse off then I am. That grass ninja was a _sanin."_ I let out an audible gasp and stared at him.

"Not Tsunade. I've seen pictures of her. But…" I mean the grass nin was a kunoichi. But maybe in disguise… which one…

"Orochimaru." It made sense in a sick way, but it was still like a punch to the gut. He was the only sanin who had truly betrayed the leaf, although all three were traitors in their own way. He had also been accused of experimenting on children. I had no idea whether that was fact or rumor, but if he was after Sasuke—only Sasuke—in that fight. Maybe he had been looking to continue his experiments.

"And the bite on your neck?" My gaze found his shoulder.

Sasuke grimaced and shoved his shirt down to show a misshapen tattoo on his shoulder. "He was trying to lay down some kind of seal, but I had the mesh armor on so…" He trailed off and I nodded eyes wide.

"I didn't think that they would be that helpful."

Sasuke gave an undignified snort. "Yea well, I didn't think I was going to be bitten by some kind of freak sanin." I held back my own snort.

"It wasn't completely effective, but it helped. Sensei had to do some kind of sealing ritual, but he said the fact that it wasn't complete helped out the effectiveness. That's why I spent so much time in the hospital really—I had to recover from the ritual. It was pretty chakra intensive after all that fighting. And that's why I even know it was a sanin. Because everyone was so panicked at first they kept talking in front of me about him."

We fell into a thoughtful silence.

Sasuke hesitated, then leaned in close again. "I think…that they were saying something about his wanting to kidnap me. It makes sense with what he was saying before— in the fight…" He trailed off.

I raised my chin haughtily. "Well then, genius or not, he's pretty stupid huh? You're a ninja of the leaf, no way would he be able to convince you to go to his side. Cause that mini recruitment speech in the tower kind of…sucked." I finished lamely.

Sasuke was quiet for a moment before he nodded. I frowned.

"I mean it. You're a ninja of the leaf. You're a member of team seven. This was a wake up call for sure. But I'm going to treat it as a life lesson. I am going to get stronger from this. And because you're a member of team seven, so will you."

I ended it on an order. He rolled his eyes at me. We sat in a companionable silence for a moment. The moon was high in the sky and the window let in the silver light.

After a brief moment Sasuke spoke up again. "Anyway, he offered _power._ I've seen how useless that can be without help." He gave me a significant look and I had the shame to blush.

"I'm going to work on it." I snapped. "I know I wasn't good enough. He was just so fast…" I let myself trail off as well, before I shook my head and finished my thought. "Besides it made me realize. I need…something else." I finished lamely again. I knew what I really needed was to talk to sensei

.

Sasuke caught the hint in my tone and didn't ask me anything further. It was still only the early stages of an idea anyway. Instead he tried a different topic:

"What did you think of Naruto and his… _weird_ chakra?" Sasuke hedged. ('Weird' was a great of saying demonic, paralyzing, and petrifying energy that felt like literally nothing I'd ever felt before. But as good a word as any…. then again _any_ word was a good try from the token angsty teen.)

I shrugged. "I have some theories." Sasuke frowned at my nonanswer.

"And they are?" He asked finally after he realized I was going to stay silent.

I grinned at him and it was almost my old grin, only not quite as big because I could feel my face pulling at the scar that traced it. "If I'm right, then I'm pretty sure its treason to say out loud. And the ANBU-san that's in the ceiling is going to have to stop us from talking about it."

Sasuke's head whipped up, but the masked figure melded out of the shadows in the corner of the room, not from above. Sasuke sucked in a breath when he noticed and glanced back at me. I waved my hand at Sasuke's expression.

"You're fine probably. If you weren't allowed to tell me, I'm sure someone would have stopped you. I just don't think dad would've let me find out if he could help it. I mean knowing that I almost died is different then knowing that it was a Sanin and I'm only alive because he wasn't really trying."

"Still, you know how I like to think: better to find out and have all the information to plan properly then to stay in the dark." I explained for Sasukes sake. I ignored the ANBU and Sasuke turned his gaze back to me trying to follow my lead.

The ANBU remained in sight, his presence quiet and authoritative.

We chatted more because I was desperate for information that I hadn't been able to ask for in person. Sasuke was clearly iffy on the anbu presence but I didn't think he'd stop the conversation. Still I eventually sat back as I realized why I had an anbu assigned to my room at all. For _Sasuke._

Dad's overprotectiveness suddenly made more sense. Sasuke was being targeted by a sanin, of course he didn't want to leave me alone with him. I'd nearly been killed for being his teammate. Figures dad, genius strategist would completely discount hormones, which explained the blindsided look I'd been shown earlier.

"Honestly… using a love note was a bad idea. I think I'm probably gonna get the talk or something out of all this." Sasuke sputtered and noticed a twitch from the anbu out of the corner of my eye.

Although he didn't say a word, Sasuke and I couldn't forget the masked man was in the room. After a few more minutes of stilted conversation, Sasuke stood up and started to take his leave, even throwing a stiff bow in the direction of the ANBU. Clearly Sasuke didn't recognize him, but I knew the chakra, and even if I didn't know the chakra—which I did, better then anyone else in the village— I still could never confuse the build, the hair, the mask, the everything of my best friend. The ANBU still didn't leave. I could feel their gaze on me and I met his gaze for a moment, waiting (hoping) for him to say something—anything. But just when I thought he would say something, he stopped himself. I couldn't hold back the burning question that had been on my mind my entire interim in the hospital.

"Hey Sasuke!" He turned back to me, one foot already swung out the window. I pulled my gaze from the anbu and unsuccessfully tried to hold back my anger from my voice. "I meant to ask but I forgot-" I lied, "What the _fuck_ is up with your cousin?"

Sasuke looked confused. "I don't know what you mean?" He said it carefully. I knew that the two didn't get along, but Sasuke tended to be cognizant of my friendship. I didn't care for that now.

"I mean where has he been? He hasn't wished me well in once. Hasn't come to visit me or anything. I asked the nurses incase it was when I was asleep." Sasuke just blinked at me. I rolled my eyes realizing I had drained my teammate of words for the night. "Whatever. You'll probably see him before I do. Tell him to go fuck himself from me." Sasuke nodded his head and slipped out of the open window.

I had had enough. I ignored the pain it caused and rolled myself over onto my side, ignoring the familiar mask and the more familiar chakra as I tried to go back to sleep. I shivered from the open window. I fell asleep to a heavy gaze that for the first time I could ever remember genuinely annoyed me. I woke up to a closed window and a thicker blanket. I threw the blanket on the ground.

"Fuck you."

* * *

Shorter then normal! Sorry about that, but I have more stuff written, I just need to double check it to make sure this all makes sense and doesn't conflict with the overall plot. I'm super excited cause Kage's about to be where I wanted to get her too FINALLY. also...Is this filler? Is this plot progression? Is this necessary for the story? find out next time on the adventures of a shitty sub romance plot in a shitty self insert fanfic that is FINALLY JUMPING OFF THE CANNON RAILS. ALL ABOARD THIS CRAZY TRAIN.


	17. Chapter 17

There are probably so many spelling mistakes in this. Also this chapter and the next are kinda information dense, so I split them into two.

As always, lemme know what you think.

~Line break~

Even in a universe with super cool magic healing, recovering from an encounter with an A rank missing nin took more then a week in the hospital. I wasn't bed ridden at release, but I was downgraded to non strenuous activity for the next three days. After which I would be able to lightly resume activity.

For the first time in my life, I was less than interested in a nap. Frankly, I was sick of sleeping. So I decided to take a walk through the village and see what I could find.

Even though most of my friends had visited and I had received cards from the ones I hadn't been awake to receive, I decided to try and check in on some of them. I didn't bother with Ino or Choji, knowing that they would be over my house at the end of the week for a typical family dinner. I could visit Sasuke, but most of my common ground with him involved training and ninja stuff that I wasn't allowed to do right now.

Naruto was similarly out. I couldn't handle the pure energy that he exuded. He had struggled to sit still in the hospital. He was too naturally excitable to be the calming presence I required.

I ended up ambling towards Sakura's house. I had only been here a couple times before because I usually met with Sakura outside the academy grounds, but occasionally she'd invited me over to study.

It took me a little while longer then it normally would have taken and I was distantly light headed at the minor exercise but I ignored the feeling and knocked on the bright red door. A quick shout and then a moments pause before the door was yanked open.

"Ah, hello Haruno-san." Sakura's mother was a study in contrasts to her daughter. Sakura had pink hair and bright green eyes, while her mother has straw colored hair and pale blue eyes giving her a washed out appearance. She was diminutive to Sasuke's tentative growth spurt. She was dressed in somber grays aghast Sakura's preference of reds and pinks. But she had a kind smile that she flashed at me in greeting and the kind voice was similar enough to her daughter to show the resemblance.

"Sakura is still out training but she should be home later this evening! Did you need anything from her, Kage-chan?"

I shook my head politely no, declined the offer of staying and waiting for her over tea, and left the residential neighborhood, making my way towards Sakura's preferred training ground.

She had mentioned her team to me a couple times over the past few weeks, but the only thing that really stuck out was the number. I couldn't even recall her teammates names, although I really should; they'd dropped off a get well card for me. I guiltily realized I couldn't even tell them apart when I strolled into the grounds and saw her two teammates tumbling in an all out brawl on the dusty floor.

The annoyed jonin sensei was standing to the side, Sakura at his side looking equally exasperated.

I guilty recalled that Sakura had literally informed me days ago that her team was struggling with their teamwork. Showing up unannounced was incredibly rude. Too late too leave however because the jonin turned his gaze to glare at me.

"Message?" He barked at me, holding out a hand in impatience.

"What?" I raised and eyebrow in question and held up both my hands in the universal 'I'm not hiding anything' gesture.

Sakura jumped forward, saving me from the irritable ninja. "Harui sensei, this is Kage-chan, my study partner! She's not—" Sakura burned red in second hand embarrassment, lowering her voice "— she's not from the genin corps." I frowned, both offended at being mistaken for genin corp as well as feeling offended at the general disapproval of the corp in the first place.

The older ninja blinked, then sighed.

In a much more resigned tone, he told his student: "Haruno-san, you're excused to work on your study materials with this genin. You're teammates…" He raised his voice to catch the attention of the now sheepish genin getting up from the ground. "…have more then enough work to catch up with you." Sakura preened at the compliment while the other two ninja's burned even redder then they already were.

I said nothing but gave a slight bow in thanks and let myself be dragged off by an over eager Sakura.

I gently guided her in the general direction of the clan compound deciding that I had run around enough today. She chattered on the way and I nodded my head and hmm'd in the all the right spots.

I finally interjected when she had paused to breathe in the middle of a story about Ino and her fighting at the market.

"Ma, Sakura, is that what your team practices are always like?"

She let out a small huff and puffed out her cheeks in exasperation. "Not every meeting…but most of them! Those two are useless. They always fight and never respect sensei and it's super frustrating. But sensei knows I pay attention and he's been working on finding me genjutsu to learn."

She preened again at the reminder of her sensei's attention. I smiled happy for my friend, but I was worried. "How did you guys end up a team if it's so dysfunctional?" I couldn't hide the amazement in my tone.

Getting a jonin sensei was a big deal, especially for a civilian born like Sakura. With the knowledge of my past life, I knew that Sakura had managed it, but that was in part to her teammates. You couldn't leave foxy boy and lone avenger in the genin corps.

She held up her hands, clueless. "I honestly have no idea. I mean I'm really grateful!" She rushed to reassure me. She lowered her voice and looked around us, but the no one in the street was paying attention to us.

"I deal with the genin corps a lot because of sensei. He works in intelligence and all day long, he's getting messages. And it's the genin that deliver them. I mean I hate the Tora mission as much as the next kunoichi…but can you imagine just running messages all day? Everyday? Your chance of being a chunin so far off… and if you get it, it just means being lead around by another chunin, one on the jonin track who needs leadership experience…Sounds …" She trailed off not finishing her thought.

"Well yea" I shrugged. "That's why clans are so helpful, after all." I explained for her benefit, keeping my voice as low as hers had been. I kept the cheerful tone, even though it didn't match with the subject.

She flinched at the reminder of her lack of a clan but I ignored it, nodding to the guard relaxing in front of the gate the compound.

"Clans exist for a reason. Not every person in the village can be a jonin, yea?" Sakura nodded slowly. "Not even every ninja on the jonin track can be a jonin…a lot of them—us" I corrected "will not succeed. But the majority of the village forces are the genin and chunin corp.

"But…a clan provides security for ninja. For one thing, it helps provide promotional growth. Almost any Nara in the genin corp will be recruited to the T and I department. If they want to go somewhere else, they're more then welcome, but the clan really only has pull in that direction. So if you go that route, you can eventually expect a nomination for chunin from the department which is better then the average genin corp member can expect. Meanwhile certain families, especially those that show promise, have the opportunity to push for their child to be on a jonin sensei- team."

Sakura still looked confused. "Some teams were never going to fail." I explained dryly. "My brothers team has three clan heirs on it. All of them have at least one parent that made it to jonin and show promise in their family jutsu. There was no way their team could fail the trial. I'm not even sure Shika tried to pass."

Sakura looked aghast. "That's wrong though! What if you don't have a clan! Most of the ninja in the academy are civilian born!"

I chuckled at her despair. It was the same reaction I had had upon learning all of this."It makes sense to prioritize families that have consistently produced ninja. But there are exceptions where a civilian or two show promise. And those that show promise manage to pass the jonin test and are allowed to continue on the jonin track. You for example." I stressed the last part.

She looked at me wide eyed. "How did you even find this stuff out? I didn't even know there was another test after we graduated…"

"Neither did I." I admitted. "Afterwards, I asked dad about it and he explained more. There's always other opportunities of course, but for the main family, its expected to reach the jonin track. Maybe not to actually become a jonin, but at least attempt it."

Sakura still looked star struck as I let her into my house. Calling out to my mom, wherever she was in the house, I led Sakura upstairs to my bedroom where we sat down to study.

Instead gossiping commenced.

After a few minutes of nonsensical chatter about nothing in particular between the two of us, Sakura nonchalantly asked me, "Did you really…you know….confess to Sasuke-kun?"

I blinked at her. "I was on heavy painkillers. I am not interested in him in the slightest. And I want to move on from this particular embarrassment in my life and never think about it again." I finished, sitting up perfectly straight, obviously uncomfortable.

She looked at me wide eyed. "Did he…turn you down gently?"

For all that I was her 'rival in love' she was being awfully kind to me.

"NO! Dear god no, I swear Sakura," I grabbed her hands in earnest, "I am not interested in Sasuke. And he's not in me. You should've seen his face when he heard I wasn't serious. I've never seen him smile like that before. It was almost a little offensive, if I didn't feel the same way."

Sakura giggled pulling her hands back and focusing on her medical text; she'd jumped units ahead of me while I was in the hospital. She absorbed the information at an astounding rate and it was prodigal how well she understood the material.

"Ino is mad at you, you know?" Sakura said casually, not dropping the subject. "She thinks you cheated by being on his team. And for not even telling her you were interested in the first place."

I groaned and through myself backwards on the floor, splaying myself over my books. Never again would I use a confession to cover up a covert meeting. Lesson learned.

The ribbing continued along with more gossip from Sakura. She knew a little bit about what was going on in the tournament preparations from her rivalry (and regular sparring) with Ino.

"Bright green jumpsuit?"

She nodded solemnly. "It really wasn't something I ever needed to see. Ino pointed him out when we were grabbing tea the other day. And then his sensei showed up. Exact same suit. I swear to god Kage, I thought it was just you who had a sensei complex, but you seem down right normal compared to this guy."

I ignored the comment—sensei was awesome and I didn't even copy him that much. The day I pulled out a porno was the day I required an intervention and not a second sooner as far as I was concerned.

"But bright green? It was so hard to get Naruto to dump his orange jacket. I mean I guess green is more likely to be in nature but come on."

Sakura looked at me askance. "Kage, there was nothing natural about these outfits, color or otherwise."

I let out a short laugh. " What about the other person you saw? The one we graduated with? Aburame? I barely remember him from class…"

Sakura launched into a detailed recounting of her and Ino spying on Kurenai's team training.

I sat back grinning. I was never going to get around to studying when Sakura had such interested stories to catch me up on.

~linebreak~

Sakura had been over for a few hours. I was glad I had decided to bug the kunoichi. She had helped me kill hours of time. Not that we had managed to get much studying done. We had sat and talked like old biddies for the entire day. Mom had run upstairs with some tea and snacks for us and we spent the day lazing about.

Sakura, I had discovered, knew next to nothing about what had landed me in the hospital. She thought I had gotten hurt during the second stage. Eliminated because of an opponents trick. She was dead terrified for when her sensei enrolled her teams in the exams, although she explained again how he was training them to specialize. Sakura in particular was going to be the genjutsu/healer on the team.

It didn't quite fit with the image I had of her. A genjutsu user usually didn't physically get involved in the fight. In fact, one way to know you were facing a team with a genjutsu user was to notice that there was one less person then expected in front of you; they usually hid out of sight and didn't engage the enemy. As a last resort, they were the ones to slip away and report the mission failure to the village. They were support ninja.

And it just didn't seem like Sakura to fill that role. No enemy engagement? At all? Sure she had the chakra control for it, but the mental control? No Sakura was a pretty angry person who tended to lose her temper rather quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if her fighting teammates didn't cross her just because they were scared of riling her temper.

And this train of thought is probably what caused me to shove her on a different path. I swear it wasn't spite! You know, even though the gift was from Shisui, it wasn't the annoyance I felt at him that prompted the action. I was mentally confused at the moment, I'll admit, but it still made sense.

It was just…I couldn't imagine Sakura as a genjutsu utilizer. In the memories of my past life, she'd been a monster with strength unparalleled. She'd been able to fuck you up six ways to Sunday and then heal you so that you didn't have a scratch on you.

And I wasn't trying to play god here; of course things could change. And Sakura was a dedicated ninja, all the way back to when I first met her in the academy years ago. If she made her primary focus genjutsu, I had no doubts that she would succeed—eventually. And this would only help her on her way. And she even said her sensei was looking around for techniques that suited her. She was going to have a dedicated teacher, something she still didn't have for medical ninjutsu but was managing anyway. She would be able to do whatever she put her mind too, I was sure.

But damn. It would be such a waste of pure awesomeness. The pink haired strong woman wouldn't exist, instead hiding behind genjutsu. And I would be the only one to know what the world was missing. And this would let her remain more in the field, less segregated from battle; help her transition into the fighting sooner once she got her monster strength.

So when there was a lull in conversation, my eyes causally glanced around my room. And when I saw the box sitting there under my bed, I almost reflexively turned away from the packet of senbon, annoyance at Shisui flickering through me— but then I paused and picked them up.

"Ya know, my friend gave me these senbon. You had decent aim in the academy. Better then me, for sure. Do you want um?" I tried for casual.

Sakura raised her eyebrows at me. "Senbon? We hardly touched on those in the academy. No thank you." She crossed her arms in an X. "I'm having enough work studying all the medical ninjutsu. Not that I don't find it interesting!" She quickly back traced. "It's just so time consuming. Between learning how to throw them, increasing accuracy, and knowing exactly where to aim them: there's a lot to learn."

Undeterred, I reached for the book underneath my bed, untouched since the mission in Wave. "Ne, Sakura, the point of Senbon is incapacitation, death, pain, healing. They're pretty versatile. And they require an extensive knowledge of the body—you can think of studying this stuff as a review of your medical notes."

I shoved the book at her too and she rolled her eyes, grabbing it from me. She flicked it open to one of the bookmarked pages.

"Acupuncture? Thats not even real Kage!" I rolled my eyes back at her and tapped on the page.

"Look here! I'm not saying you can shove a needle in someone and fix a broken bone. But it says you can stimulate nerve clusters—-use it to help someone heal faster. Or to close tenketsu so that you can focus treatments and redirect chakra to other parts of the body. Or to drop someone into a death trance." I winced. "Trust me, I've seen that one and its pretty realistic."

Sakura had stopped listening to me and was flipping through the book more curiously. I grinned.

"You don't have to use them. But you can take the book and the pack. I haven't touched them in a while. If I change my mind, I'm just being stingy."

Sakura laughed at my drawled remark and folded up the book in her lap, glancing at it unable to hide her curiosity.

I sighed. "Let's get back to studying. I need to memorize this before I can do any kind of work on this area of the body." I gestured to the diagram on the book in front of me sighing again. I had this particular book open for a few hours now and it felt like none of the information was sinking in. My knowledge of my past life was failing me; on a large scale level, it was all the same. On a smaller more detailed level? Every cell in the body was affected by chakra. I would never be able to do more then heal scratches and speed up bone breaks if I didn't get the details down. I had spent months on this, but I felt like I'd hit a plateau. I was struggling to grasp all the details.

Sakura giggled but settled down as we began studying again.

Sakura left right before dinner, opting not to join us. After a quiet but not unhappy meal, Dad dragged Shikamaru outside for more training. He'd been busy the whole day, but between his sensei and dad, the training was relentless.

Because he had made the finals, for the next month, Shika had one on one training to prepare for it, focused on using the Nara family techniques. He was progressing quickly through the family jutsu, showing near mastery of shadow capture and excellent control of shadow mimicry, I'd heard he'd used it successfully in the pre lim match he'd fought. When I used it, I struggled for the correct amount of chakra and wasted too much energy.

Shikamaru no longer had that problem it seemed. While visiting in the hospital, my brother had told me that dad was forcing him to master shadow mimicry before he showed him any of the higher tiered jutsu. It was a lot to ask, but as the heir, Shika was also expected to know my branch of the techniques inside and out, as I would one day be expected of dad and Shika's preferred jutsu's. A downside to being part of the main family. Shika was feeling the strain right now.

It was, in a word, exhausting.

Not to mention the physical training he was receiving from his sensei. Which had to be counterbalanced by dad, with more time studying, like he was forcing Shika to do now after dinner.

Using shadows was a focus of yin chakra. Controlling shadows with any measure of success meant using put yin chakra. Shika and I had both been young when we'd first managed it, but it made sense. Shika was a prodigious genius and I was also hailed as one, although in my case, the excess spirt energy most likely came from having a more developed mind—reincarnation bullshit that managed to help me for once.

Technically—not that we would ever let this information get around—we didn't use a bloodline limit because our techniques weren't something that only we could do. Like I said, it was usage of pure yin chakra. Anyone who could isolate it could have limited control. I'd been told plenty of Uchiha had tried back when the clan still existed. Their success was limited however; the isolation was difficult, only exasperated by the fact that you could only use half of your typical store of chakra. The yang half was left to languish.

However—barring Uchiha who could copy our hand signs and could see the flow of chakra—it was unlikely that anyone else would use the techniques wth any real success. The excess of yin chakra required when forming the correct buildup, the correct amount to control the shadows without blowing them up, unless till you managed to reform a shape, was difficult to master. Shikamaru was undoubtably a genius with this. I had managed lower level techniques in Wave after years of dedicated focus on my Okaa-san's techniques. Shikamaru had relearned my style successfully in a week while I was in the hospital.

Shikamaru was the cumulation of years of careful matchmaking and child rearing. Like I said; technically it wasn't a bloodline limit. Anyone could eventually among some success at the technique. But it required a certain balance of ninja.

And the Nara had over the years had breeded ourselves into the perfect yin chakra machines. Since the warring clan era, we had focused on genetic quirks of our ancestors that had a slight increase of yin chakra over their yang. We patented child rearing skills that involved a bastardized version of the socratic method. Children were given puzzles and strategy games on birthdays and holidays. Everything we did was an opportunity to question, learn, expand out mind; to help increase our mental agility.

It left something to be desired in our physical abilities. We were never really encouraged to play ninja tag or physically train. While laziness was accepted, it wasn't really anything it was more just a symptom of the condition the clan had developed. Over all it helped increase our survival ability as ninja, able to use quick wits and work around problems.

But almost as important: it helped increase our stores of yin chakra.

And that left you with this: a clan of ninja with an abundance of yin chakra, resulting in quick wits but slow and lazy personalities. Not that it was entirely the chakra to blame for the laziness, but I had to give it some credit.

But I'm digressing; the reason why building up yin chakra was so annoying was that it required mental exhaustion. You needed to build up your brains, your knowledge, your pattern recognition, your instincts.

If you didn't build these up and only focused the physical aspects of being a ninja, your yang chakra would grow in, balancing out the imbalance of yin chakra. Which was a nightmare possibility. Which meant that Shika had to spend hours training in the morning with dad on jutsu seals and physical stamina. And then join his jonin sensei for a small bit of team training. And then later spend twice as long talking strategy, being given different scenarios and various tests. Being emotionally worn out by our father, not allowing his physical growth —his yang chakra—to exceed his intelligence growth—his yin chakra.

So many shogi games that I think Shika was starting to hate the game.

The lack of sleep was making Shika twitchy and I eyed him in sympathy as he dragged himself out to the front porch, following dad.

Mom tutted but didn't say anything as she cleared away the dishes from dinner. I stayed quiet too, not because I had nothing to say, but because I didn't want her to notice me slipping out of the room without helping dry the dishes.


	18. Chapter 18

This is the second chapter I uploaded today! Go back and read chapter 17 before this! Also sorry in advance for more spelling mistakes then usual.

The chapter is kind of information dense but necessary.

As always, enjoy and let me know what you think.

~Line break~

The next day saw me sleeping in, just as bored as I'd been the day before. While munching on a late lunch, I was mulling over who I could bother today. My team had broken off onto their own for now, disbanded for the duration of the tournament, no matter the fact that none of us were in the tournament as of now. We were scheduled to meet up again on training ground three in two day, once I was cleared for training again.

Naruto was probably self-training— a horrifying thought because he further reinforced all of the incorrect stances and sloppy techniques he used.

Sasuke was definitely self-training. He couldn't handle Naruto and sensei on his own without a middle ground person to be more annoyed at—me.

Sensei was…I had no idea what sensei was doing. Maybe helping old ladies with their groceries? Watering someones plants for them? Reorganizing shelves in the grocery stores for grateful and too short to reach the top shelf employees?

No, I had no idea what Kakashi sensei was doing, but when he was ready to find me he would.

Which left me wondering who to bother. Sakura had informed me that she had a in-villlage mission today but would be free in the late afternoon. Ino and Choji were busy; I had seen Shika lumber off to a quick practice with his sensei and the two of them had been there at the gates.

I wasn't really friends with most of my other classmates; I was more acquaintances, but they had been kind enough to drop of get well flowers, cards, and in Hinata's case I'd received a small fruit basket.

Mom interrupted my silent pontification. "Where had Shisui-kun been dear? I haven't seen him since before the exams began." Mom fretted. "You know that boy can't cook, he's always welcome to dinner here. Go make sure that boy is sorted for dinner. Remind him he's always welcome to come over." She ended on an order.

I inhaled deeply, looking to the heavens for patience and then let out a short puff of air. I swear to god if I didn't know any better, I would swear that the woman knew that I was—not fighting…feuding?—with Shisui.

As it was, I did know better. She was just blissfully clueless and lovably over bearing.

And also genuinely worried. Shisui really couldn't cook. Its why he ended up eating out so much; it was easier to buy a plate of fried rice then it was to figure out how to do it himself. In fact, when I broke up the locations of where we hung out, a solid fifth of the time was probably in places that sold food.

I shoved myself up from the table and grumbled a "fine!" in mom's direction, shuffling to the door. I was done with today and I had just woken up. I was going to go deal with Shisui, get over this argument with him and then go back to sleep. No more work in between. I was done for today. I opened the door to the house, grimacing at the light.

"Kage, so help me if you don't bring your dishes to the sink, you're going to be back in the hospital!" Mom raised her voice at me as I tried yet again to slip away.

"This is so bothersome." I said mournfully as I dragged myself back into the kitchen.

~linebreak~

Shisui's apartment was shared with Sasuke. Over the years, I had tried to avoid it, mostly because emo boy was a huge buzzkill when we were younger. Now that we were on a team, I had taken to avoiding it out of respect for boundaries. More often then not, I was finding that not spending every waking moment with my team was the best bonding that could be done.

Shisui's apartment was also fairly close to the compound. A happy coincidence under usual circumstances. An unfortunate one today because it left no time for me to clear my head and formulate my thoughts.

I was upset. But that was a feeling i was struggling to articulate into words.

Why exactly was I mad with Shisui? Because he didn't come visit me in the hospital? That was pretty childish…but thats essentially what it boiled down to—it was no big deal if one of the other teams hadn't visited me; we weren't that close and life is to busy to work a visit into the hospital.

But Shisui was supposed to be my best friend. I had visited him the one and only time I'd known he was in the hospital. And it wasn't like being busy was an excuse considering he'd obviously been the Anbu guarding the room.

Speaking of, what had I done to warrant a guard? Was it just because i was Sasuke's teammate?

I had just reached the landing of Shisui's floor when I stopped, drawn out of my thoughts.

As if drawn by my gaze, Shisui looked up from the key in the door, groceries uncomfortably balanced in a one arm hold. He froze like a deer in headlights. My glare intensified.

Looking nervous, he turned away from me and fumbled with the lock. I looked on unimpressed, following him into the apartment when he finally got the door open. When we entered the kitchen I saw a note on the table from Sasuke, confirming that he had indeed gone out to train. The home was otherwise quiet as Shisui quickly put away his groceries. I said nothing but was internally was squirming. I still wasn't sure how to phrase my annoyance without seeming petty and childish. In fact, part of me wondered if I was just being dramatic and should let it go.

Finally having nothing to do and therefore distract him, Shisui plopped down in the chair across the table from me. "So." He started.

I just stared at him. He chuckled weakly, holding up his hands defensively. "Yea, so I realize you're mad with me and I realize you probably expected a visit in the hospital and so I'm sorry." He a short bow from his seated position.

I twitched.

I had been trying to figure out the best way to phrase my annoyance the entire walk over here. I'd even had extra time while he was putting away groceries.

But right now, I was just gonna let the words come out as I thought them, angry and annoyed and hurt and childish.

Because this asshole had the gall to say 'sorry' and look apologetic—and mean it!— without even realizing why I was mad. I was going full emotional, angsty teen rant on him.

"You told me you would be in the village for the next month. Of course I expected you to visit me in the hospital!" My voice started at its normal volume but creeped upwards as I continued.

"And then I finally manage to stay awake for longer then 5 minutes, and what do I notice? Some stupid ass anbu not even bothering to hide his chakra signature. OH WAIT THAT WAS YOU. Not visiting me. Not saying hello. Just hiding, not saying a word!" My voice was a shout by the end. Shisui reared back, affronted and hurt.

"I—I mean whatever anbu was there— was protecting you! I couldn't just visit—" He tried to defend himself.

"BULLSHIT." I snapped, irritated. "You would've been trying harder to hide your presence if you weren't allowed to just visit me. BUT—I'm not even mad that you decided to be socially awkward and guard the hospital— which is weird cause last I saw, I wasn't the one targeted by a missing nin, but what do I know? Nothing?" I asked rhetorically going off track for a moment in my rant. "I know nothing because nobody tells me nothing and I'm just here alone with no visits and no knowledge knowing nothing!" I seethed but cut off Shisui with a swipe of my hand.

"I'm mad that you didn't come to visit me even once—just once—when I really needed to see a familiar face! Everyone, including freaking nobodies from the academy that I didn't even remember existed, sent cards and even flowers! Sakura's teammates dropped of a card! I wasn't even awake for it, and I cant remember their names for the life of me, but I have a fucking 'get well soon' card from them. Meanwhile, my best friend is no where to be seen because he's hiding in a wall somewhere!"

I felt my anger dissipating. I sighed and rolled my shoulders, letting some of my wariness drip into my voice. "Where were you Shisui? I thought I was gonna die—thought I had died for a bit there. Genuine death." I couldn't hold back the slight shudder. I hadn't been afraid of death—been there done that. But I had been afraid of dying and leaving behind so much including teammates who needed me, teammates in danger.

"And I wasn't scared to die, not really. But I feel pretty shitty once I woke up and realized I had lived after all. Because this was a wakeup call. And I guess I really needed it. But I also needed someone to turn to, to help me talk this over, to make me laugh and distract me from being serious.

"And the one person in this entire village I can always count on; the one guy who has always been there for me, all the way back to when I was what? 6? One of the people I care most about in this village—" I stressed the last sentence, looking up to meet Shisui's flat gaze.

" —didn't have the nerve to come visit me? Fill me in on whats going on? I had to find out about everything from fucking Sasuke. And we both know what a talker he is."

Shisui slumped against the chair and threw his head up to glare at the ceiling. Finally he mumbled a response.

"I didn't quite catch that." Tilting my head to look at him, I raised my eyebrow in question.

"I don't…visit people in the hospital. " He grumbled slightly louder. I kept my face blank. He sighed and continued, still not meeting my gaze. "It's just not done. At least my family never did. All the Uchiha…it was never a good thing to be in a room; it meant you messed up your mission. Or you'd failed in training somehow. You get in and out as quickly as possible."

He shrugged hopelessly. "And not to mention that we just never ended up there for a 'good' reason. Births were done at home whenever possible. Check ups were done in the home too. There was just no reason to ever hang out at a hospital. And to see one of your friends there? It was shameful. Nobody even wanted guests." He shrugged hopelessly. It was quiet as I took this in. Shisui shifted in his chair.

"Back when I was in the hospital," He began carefully. My mind jumped back to that night, unable to not conjure up a nightmare-worthy Itachi because he'd starred in quite a few night terrors. "I had no family visiting me. Not my aunt, my cousins. Nobody." He stressed the word. "Because that was what was expected. Even a potentially life threatening condition should be ignored whenever possible."

"That…is pretty awful. But it makes a lot of sense." Shisui was awkward as fuck. No way could be just be normal and get over his cultural aversion to hospitals by visiting a friend the normal way. And it was kind of rude for me to be mad about something I'd never bothered to ask him about.

And yes, he hadn't visited but instead he'd decided to volunteer to 24/7 guard duty and actively sabotage his own hiding places to subtly inform me of his presence.

Cause that was the best way to let me know he cared without actually, ya know; letting me know he cares. Fucking illogical Uchihas.

He finally looked to meet my eyes, shoving off the back of the chair and straightening up, hopeful. He had a small hopeful smile beginning on his face.

I shrugged lackadaisically "You never go to the hospital. And I've seen you looking pretty banged up after you come back from missions. I think the only time I've ever had to visit you there was…well you just said." We both sat there awkwardly remembering the night his entire family had been brutally murdered before I pushed on. "I guess it makes sense coming from you."

The teen sighed in relief. His tense posture relaxed and the ADHD moron of my best friend came through as he began over explaining the situation in a short almost unintelligible ramble.

"I'm so glad you're not mad anymore. Its just that hospitals are weird. And I hate being in them. I mean I make Sasuke go—thats one thing I never really stressed to him, he's got enough quirks as it is, no reason to avoid hospitals too! Not that it wasn't difficult for me to go for any reason. I mean, I've gotten used to it with—" he coughed mid ramble, his eyes wide.

He quickly tried to cover up his mistake. "Regular jonin approved rounds at the hospital." He stressed. "Besides, its weird to visit someone in the hospital! Isn't it better to see them once they leave, as like a congrats on not dying kind of thing? I mean—"

I raised my hands to cut off his babble. "Shisui, you're rambling. First off, I know you're in anbu, whether you confirm it or not. I think everyone in the shinobi corps knows you're in the force." He violently shook his head denying it, his hands moving in a million directions at once. He hadn't ever actually confirmed his appointment in the shadow ranks, but I had never needed to ask; I had already known. And even if i hadn't, it was obvious. And what with the hospital guarding had further cemented it; now I even knew what mask he had.

I ignored his spluttered protests and continued. "And second thing, I never said I wasn't mad at you anymore."

That made him shut up real quick. His hopeful smile drooped and he stared at me intently.

We stared at each other, implacable. We refused to break eye contact. I kept my face straight as I leaned forward in challenge. It was entirely silent as Shisui leaned back. His eyes watered slightly and I held back my smile, victory in sight.

Shisui blinked first and I grinned, victorious.

"You're so needy." He whined shoving his chair back from the table and standing up, stretching.

"It's not just a 'congrats you feel better' dinner. This is a 'you feel better and i'm an awful friend so here's the most expensive Akimichi restaurant I can find' kind of dinner." I giggled as I skipped next to him.

"And greedy!" he drawled. I snagged his arm and intertwined our elbows.

"This is gonna be the most expensive get well present you've ever bought. So learn your lesson this time and buy me flowers next time." I had no remorse.

"Next time!?" He mock glared at me, but I could see his humor returning. I just grinned back.

"My chunin exams got interrupted by a missing nin apparently dead set on kidnapping my teammate. My first mission outside of the village got upgraded to an A rank. Once is a coincidence. Twice? That's a pattern."

Shisui gaped at me. "What do you mean upgraded to an A rank?" He demanded incredulous.

I shrugged, ignoring Shisui's wide eyed gaze his door as I locked it behind us. Mom had told me to make sure Shisui had dinner. But she hadn't said anything about brining him back to our place. Loophole. I dragged Shisui down the stairs of his complex, reveling in the good weather.

"Didn't Sasuke mention it when we got back to the village? I guess I never really saw you or anything, you were in an out of the village…" I paused eying a cart selling cotton candy. It looked delicious, but I forced myself to continue towards the restaurant district. Dessert could happen later. Still on Shisui's dime—but later.

"NO! We just—You know that Sasuke doesn't say anything! About anything! Ever!" Shisui had freed his arm from mine and was waving both around wildly.

"How much have you even heard about the exams?" I sighed, looking at him expectantly. He had obviously over heard what Sasuke had told me the last ngiht. And he had probably over heard a slight bit more then just that. Most likely my recounting of the attack to my father. And general nosiness would've helped. But Sakura had had no idea that we were targeted. She had assumed it was a random, chunin exams mishap.

Shisui twitched and ran his hand through his hair distractedly. He lowered his voice. "Unofficially; a little more then what was in the reports. Officially…" He hesitated "I know that my cousin was attacked and is on heavy duty protection circuit."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh boy. I have got sooooo much to catch you up on." I snagged his arm again and continued pulling him towards my get well dinner. I was ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. Explaining all this was gonna take so much time. All because Sasuke was a little shit who lacked verbal communication skills. Bothersome.

~line break~

Shisui was over my house the next day, just after day break. I had been cleared for light physical activity starting tomorrow morning, but I insisted on beginning today. Shisui had agreed the night before to come over and help me relearn how to be a shinobi, bruises and cuts be damned. I could feel my body stiffening up from both lack of use and from scarring while in the hospital and that just wouldn't do.

We spent a good portion of the morning in companionable silence; we'd caught up on most conversation yesterday evening. Instead of talking we focused on breathing our way through all the yoga poses. As I always did whenever this activity was done, I let my body move on its own, autonomous.

In, out, in, out. I breathed through the stretches, holding them for a few minutes before pushing forward slightly till I had myself as low as I could go. I pinwheeled up so that I was resting my forearms on the ground along with my head and kept my feet straight up in the air. I huffed with the exertion, breathing hard before dropping my feet behind me and sitting up. I drew myself back into a crosslegged position and switched to a more open split. Moving my legs hurt way less then any other part of my body and I leaned into the stretch, feeling the soreness, but relishing in the stiffness. Stiffness was one of the biggest danger in healing; the longer I let it sit, the harder it was going to be to jump into training.

As the morning wore on, I jumped into more and more difficult poses, holding them longer and pushing myself further.

Instead I focused on my memories, sorting through and trying to pull out every little detail from my previous life. There was nothing new. Not really. But I liked to keep the memories fresh.

Sometimes with new knowledge came perspective on the memories from Kayla's rants and her obsessive background chatter about the television show.

I was trying to focus on Orochimaru, the snake sannin, and I felt like I was close to a connection, something about the snakes and students and something I just couldn't quite remember?—when mom interrupted Shisui and I with a call for lunch.

It would come to me.

After a short lunch, Shisui left, promising my mom he'd be over the next night for dinner with mine, Choji and Ino's family joining us. I waved goodbye to him, which he returned with a quick jaunt of a wave before he shunshin'd away faster then I could track. I followed him out of the compound at a more sedate pace and made my way out of the compound.

Instead of heading towards the hokage tower, where I was sure Shisui was going, I turned in the direction of training ground three. I had been told by sensei I was to report there with the rest of the team tomorrow morning. But for once I didn't have a burning urge to be late. Stretching out my muscles had felt amazing today and I couldn't wait to get back to being active.

I strolled slowly though the village, idly taking in the increased traffic on the roads and the business of all the vendors and stalls. The village was more crowded then I had ever seen it; excitement was clearly in the air and I heard someone calling like a news boy from my past life, declaring betting was open on the ranks.

I mentally promised myself I'd come back and lay down some money on the fights, but didn't stop. Eventually I made it to our team training ground.

Surprisingly, neither Sasuke or Naruto was present. Sasuke could make sense. He still trained on some of the Uchiha training grounds. But Naruto? I had no idea where he was.

Even more surprisingly, Sensei was here. I hadn't even been looking for him. He was standing over by the monument. I reflexively looked to where I knew my Okaa-san's name was located. She'd been added after her death had been confirmed by dad.

Sensei must have noticed me, even though I stayed a respectable distance away. When he finally turned away from the stone, his face was solemn and serious.

I nodded in greeting to him. "I didn't mean to bother you sensei."

He waved off the apology. "No bother. I was going to go find you later anyway. I wanted to talk to you before training tomorrow anyway." His face and tone had remained serious. It was a bright and sunny day and he stood with his back to the sun. I wasn't quite able to meet his gaze.

Squinting, I asked confused," What's there to talk about?"

I will admit. For someone who had literally berated Shisui the day before for his lack of tact, it was not the best way to open whatever conversation Kakashi sensei wanted to have.

We stood in silence for a few minutes, before Sensei finally relaxed a little and smiled at me, although he didn't seem any less grim.

A heavy hand came to rest on my head.

I looked at him still confused. He eye smiled at me in response. "You don't fit the brooding look."

I blinked. I had been brooding a lot in the hospital and even once i was home. But it wasn't really brooding— more like i was thinking of my future; my place on the team and how I had handled the encounter with the missing nin. It was always on the back burner of my mind, but I hadn't mentioned it aloud to anybody.

I was surprised sensei had even noticed.

Blankly, I replied, "I typically leave that to Sasuke anyway."

A small chuckle was all sensei gave in response before returning to his more serious attitude. He turned away from me and leaned back against a nearby tree. He looked out towards the forest that bordered my home."You said before that you were a support fighter."

I blinked again. This conversation was not anything like I had expected. Where was he even trying to go with this…?

"When—.?" He answered before I could finish.

"When we were escorting Tazuna, you said you were a support fighter." His face was blank. I shrugged. I didn't remember my exact phrasing, but I was sure sensei was right.

"Team 7 was attacked by a missing nin in the tower." Kakashi's voice was cool and detached. It captured my attention. His face, what I could see of it, remained impassive.

"You said you're a support ninja." He repeated firmly.

"Why did you rush at the ninja then?" His voice was so calm. Bland. He didn't tense up and never moved his eyes from off of the forest in the background. But I winced and looked away. I had expected some kind of reprimand for the tower; Sasuke and Naruto had probably heard something as well. But—ouch. This was kind of tough to hear.

I tried to explain myself. "Sasuke needed help, I had an openin—"

"You had nothing." Sensei's voice turned vicious. I I stared at him wide eyed as he turned his eye back to my face. I physically took a step back as I felt his anger. His own face is blank, but his words remained cutting.

"You're fast, I'll give you that; it probably surprised him. But what were you planning on doing then? You had nothing up your sleeve. You were quick but you didn't manage to land a hit. Even if you had, what were you planning on doing? There was nothing you could do because you don't have anything to attack with. And he knew that. You didn't live because you were a good ninja. You lived because that nin didn't feel like putting in the effort to kill you. You were hardly a fly in his eyes. That is how much of a difference you made."

I stared back at sensei and swallowed. I had no words. I just sat there waiting to wake up. Because sensei had never spoken to me like this. Not to Naruto or Sasuke either, but definitely not me either. It was…throughly unpleasant.

He turned away from me again. I got the impression that he was waiting for something from me. Something, but I didn't know what. I was still frozen on the shock that this was a nightmare that I hadn't managed to wake from.

Slowly, minute by minute, Kakashi sensei unfroze. He leaned back into a slouch against the tree. I crossed my arms, unconsciously hugging myself.

"You're coming back to train tomorrow morning. Are you feeling better yet Kage-chan?" he asked kindly. His voice back to its placid everyday politeness. "Do you need more time to recover?"

Part of me wanted to say yes. Because I hadn't exactly viewed the encounter like Kakashi had pointed it out. I was more then a little shook right now.

But…Sensei was sensei. Everything he did had a reason. And maybe I was imagining it, but I could feel sensei waiting for me to ask something, to say something. I just didn't know what.

"I… no, you were right." I spoke haltingly. "I thought I was going to die there." Sensei stayed quiet, but he had an inquisitive look so I answered his question. Faking a laugh, I continued. "I studied all that medical ninjutsu, and well…it seemed pretty touch and go in the tower. It didn't help at all. It was more useless then it was in Wave even. But that's not really what bothered me. I was thinking when I was in the hospital that I was going to ask you teach me something. Some kind of jutsu that would've helped me attack the grass nin. I was thinking maybe I could make some kind of plan so that this doesn't happen again. Because this was pretty awful." I faked another laugh, but wasn't able to hide the slightly hysterical edge to it.

"But you're right…I'm just a support ninja and I shouldn't have barged in. I just put myself in danger for no reason." I hugged myself tighter, my voice shaking slightly. I hadn't wanted to imagine Sakura being a straight support ninja. Maybe I had been projecting my own fears onto her.

Kakashi sensei dropped his hand on my head again, ruffling my hair and messing up my ponytail. It was a heavy reassuring presence and I looked up at him. I was relieved to see that he was smiling at me again.

"You know out of all the team, I was thinking you would be least likely to fall into the 'jutsu' mentality. I can't just show you a jutsu that fixes every little problem." He paused thoughtfully. "Well, I probably could but that's neither here nor there."

"Sensei I think you're being extra confusing today." Coming from me that was saying something.

"Well, you know how iWhat with the sharingan and all, I know a lot of jutsu. Like literally one for every situation. But thats not exactly a possibility for you.

"Maa, Kage-chan, I have an idea for you. For team 7 as a whole, but it is going to affect you more then anyone else." He was still smiling but I could feel the seriousness slip back into him.

I was going to get whiplash, the attitude was changing so much here.

I paused before nodding my head in agreement. Sensei motioned to the floor and we both sat down crosslegged on the ground facing each other.

"Whatever you think would be good sensei. I don't want a repeat of that tower." I really didn't. The way sensei had put it in perspective, it was a pretty terrible situaiton. I had already been treating it as a wake up call and still had missed this much.

Kakashi sensei nodded in agreement with me and then paused again. I waited a while before prodding.

"Are you going to tell me what your idea is?"

He sighed, then propped his chin on his elbow, still facing me. "I'm trying to figure out how to say this in a way that isn't going to come across as cruel. But I've never been very good with people."

"Sensei, I firmly believe you manipulate the entire village. On a near daily basis. For fun." he ignored my interruption.

"Kage do you eventually want to be a jonin?" He finally asked.

"…Of course." I tried to keep my face calm. Oh god, was he about to dump me into the genin corp? This was karma for all the shit talking I had done with Sakura.

"Kage-chan, I want you to stop your current focus of training. No more meddling in everything at once. No more medical ninjutsu. You're never going to master it on your own and you know enough for first aid. Don't waste any more time one it." I winced.

"No more senbon practice either. It doesn't suit you and the different design is going to mess with your ability with kunai and shuriken." Wide eyed I stared at him.

"No more focusing on just speed." He held up a hand to forestall any argument, but it didn't really matter because I wasn't able to speak anyway. It felt like I was in a nightmare all over again except this time I couldn't fully believe it because surely I would already have woken up?

"You had a good idea with the weights. You failed at using them once you started chakra cycling to hold them. Good for chakra practice. Bad for strength building. We're going to have to work on that. You can keep wearing them for now, but we might get rid of them all together. " I finally found my words.

"That's literally everything I have done so far to become a ninja." I choked out. I bit my lip holding back tears. "What else am I supposed to do? Shout witty one liners until my enemies burst into flames? It's not like we didn't just go over how much my taijutsu sucks." I let out the last bit as a slight wail.

Kakashi sensei finally let out a small laugh. "I'm not telling you to not practice ninja skills. I just want you find a focus." He got serious again. "Life long chunin are the ones who cant make up their minds on skills. People who decide that they want to be good at everything. You can't be a medic, a support, a front line, a speed specialist, etc. all at once. If you want to me a jonin, let me help you now before you fall into bad habits."

I nodded, my eyes still watery.

"Okay." HE clapped his hands in emphasis and then held up two fingers. "First off; I'm going to want you to start studying, but that can wait till after tomororw."

"What am I going to be studying?"

Sensei ignored me. "Second thing—" he interrupted himself "—you're going to have to be ambidextrous; are you?"

"They train you in the academy—"

He waved dismissively. "The academy was years ago, I barely remember what they teach. Any~way—" He eye smiled at me.

"Part two" He wiggled his other finger in emphasis. "I'm gonna show you how to use a sword."

"What the actual fuck sensei." I was helplessly confused. "Am I still in the hospital? Did the morphine drip malfunction? You're really not making any sense."

He looked at me, his face once again serious. I started back hopelessly confused.

"We just went over how I'm supposed to be a support role. Why would you give the support role a sword?"

"I said to stop learning medical ninjutsu and stop throwing senbons. I said to stop emphasizing just speed. I don't think I said to not use a sword."

I took that in. "But you said that I should be a support ninja!" I finally answered, flustered.

He tilted his head at me, playing confused. "When did I say that?"

"Earlier!" I shouted, agitated. " You said that…" I mentally reviewed our conversation, but sensei was already shaking his head.

"YOU said that you were a support ninja. I disagree. You have the speed and tactics to be a front line ninja. You need to pick up on the strength to be more of a heavy hitter, but a sharp enough blade will help balance that out. You also have a family technique that could tie in very well with kenjutsu. It's a potential avenue that I think suits you more then anything. I would want a mix of you using your shadow justus along with my lessons on kenjutsu. I've had it in mind since Wave, when you went up against Zabuza's clone."

Sensei was still sitting in front of me, but I was trying to piece all of this together. I was so confused. I had never felt so lost for words.

He chuckled and reached over, ruffled my hair. "I didn't think you'd be this surprised, but you haven't taken any of my hints to heart so I guess it makes sense."

I looked baffled, I'm sure, because he explained slowly. "Ever since Wave, I've tried to put you in the leadership role. I asked you what you thought of for training and positions and you agreed with my thoughts. You placed Sasuke in genjutsu training." I shook my head trying to deny it, but he wasn't wrong.

"Meanwhile, you too the role of the person who charges into battle. Sasuke helps you figure things out, but you are the one who jumps ahead. Naruto already looked to you, but Sasuke does now too. You've been deferring to him for a while now, and at first I thought it was laziness, but I guess you really didn't see it."

He shrugged as I shook my head again, still wide-eyed, thinking back to all our games of leap frog and hide seek that sensei used as training. His outside the box training method. He sighed and rolled his eye at me for not still getting it.

"Team 7 keeps Naruto as our main fighter. Sometimes he'll have to jump back and hangout or help with traps. Maybe reconnaissance and sensing. Midrange things. Usually though, he's going to be jumping into the fray. But you and Sasuke are swapped from how you seem to envision the team."

And then it clicked. Like a total light bulb moment I realized what Kakashi was saying. And it made sense. Half thoughtful, I thought aloud. "Why would you have your genjutsu and wire specialist as a mid distance fighter? It makes more sense to have them at a distance, where they're best utilized in the back." Exactly where I had place Sakura in my mental plan just the day before.

With that in mind, I thought back to the chunin exams.

And suddenly I wasn't seeing the forest in front of me, I was back in the tower.

Only half aware, I stood up, but I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, instead I was internally mapping the fight with the sanin. Why had I charged in when I had seen an opening?

I thought back, trying to filter through the scene. There was Naruto spamming clones. There was Sasuke trying to desperately fight back. And there was I standing and watching for an opening.

Playing at being support I realized; because a real support ninja, someone like Ino, would have used a shuriken or a kunai. Maybe attached an exploding tag and called it a day. I should have been looking for cover. I should have been trying to slip away and get help or to lay down some genjutsu.

But I had launched myself into the fray. It had been an unconscious decision. Step in and help my teammates. It hadn't been much of a plan, but I realized that our training had set it up. It was what I had been doing for weeks now; searching for gaps in Kakashi's defenses and jumping in when Sasuke and Naruto gave me an opening. It made it seem like the natural idea. Where else would I go but jump right in front of the grass nin and….

I froze where I was standing. I was a few feet from the monument and I could feel Kakashi gaze on my back, but in my minds eye I was watching the grass nin —The snake— move to attack me. It was like slow motion as I relived the moment.

I had the speed. I had known that. I had been bragging about my speed for years. But it was pretty useless. No. It wasn't speed that was important here. I could have died even if I had been as fast as Shisui. More importantly then speed, I had jumped in, under her (His) guard, not once, but twice. I had the timing. I definitely had the timing down. Kakashi had been training the team on the maneuver for weeks, and subconsciously it had stuck.

I continued the mental play-by-play. I mimed a sword in my hand and imagine stabbing the ninja. But I tried to imagine it like Kakashi sensei's description. Flinging a shadow tendril out to grab her arm; slow down her slice, sliding a sword forward and under her ribs…it was..sublime.

I turned to Kakashi sensei, mouth slightly agape. "It's perfect. Genius."

He chucked and ruffled my hair. "I used to be called that a lot." he said thoughtfully. I shook my head.

"No, really! It's incredibly well thought out. I feel like I should've seen it from our training. It feels so obvious now. It's been my go to role in the really have been setting this up since after Wave. Maybe during it to even." I stopped gushing and shook my head in wonder. I was so glad to have been given Kakashi as a Jonin sensei.

"I think I love you sensei." I said seriously.

He burst out a quick laugh before controlling himself.

"Maa, my cute little genin is confessing? I hear you're saying that to everyone on the team these days, so I don't feel very special."

It took a moment to process, but when I lunched myself at sensei in fury, he just shunshin'd away.

~linebreak~

When I showed up to training ground three the next day, I greeted my teammates but didn't mention my conversation with sensei from the day before. I hadn't mentioned it to anyone really, not even dad who would've been curious about the direction.

It wasn't done. Nara were never front line fighters. This was going to be an interesting social experiment to say the least.

The three of us waited in near silence for almost the entire morning before sensei poofed into the field, informed us we were leaving for a B rank mission in two hours, pack for fire country, and expect a 3 days trip at most. Then he poofed away.

Sasuke let out a shout of pure rage; clearly he was stressed out if sensei's normal routine bugged him this much. Naruto looked betrayed at having waited literal hours for a two second message.

I sighed in happiness that the dynamic of our team hadn't changed with yet another near death experience and sensei's talk with me yesterday. I was growing attached to these idiots.

I walked Sasuke home, neither of us saying anything in particular. While Sasuke stormed into his house in a flurry, ready to pack, I called out for Shisui, asking for his help packing. He obliged and grabbed my arm, shunshin-ing us to the Nara compound gate. I threw my arms out, holding my stance as the world around me spun. Shisui laughed at my nausea, dragging me into the house.

Although I had complained about his packing tips before Wave, I acknowledged that it had all been solid advice, doomsday prepare amount of ration bars and all.

We chatted through the packing, because having been feuding for a few weeks, there felt like so much to catch up on.

Shisui didn't even seem to notice he was basically packing my bag on his own. I sat on my bed crosslegged folding and stuffing anything he handed me into the bag while he flitted around my room and finished telling me about his most recent mission to the land of Tea. It had been an extended mission and though I'd seen him since he returned, we hadn't really had a chance to talk because of the exams.

I interrupted him to hold up the latest item to pack, quirking a brow at him in question.

He snatched it back, flushing. "It could be helpful." He defended stubbornly, but he obediently went to place the arm guards back on my shelf.

I laughed and groaned at the same time. "I know your used to much more intense missions, but this is a b rank that sensei okayed for his still recovering team. I'm sure I don't need to be as well prepared as you need to be for your S rank secret missions."

As always, he clammed up when I mentioned S rank missions, but after he fumbled to transition from the taboo topic, he jumped right back into his packing and his story telling.

"And then the merchant group finally told us that it wasn't just one village after them, but two maybe even three mercenary groups were on their tail! Can you believe it?"

I shook my head. Honestly, considering how bad Wave could have gone, I was pretty shocked with how Shisui made this seem like it was just bad luck and not something worse.

He shook his head in bemused amazement, as if misranking a mission was no big deal. For him, it probably was a normal occurrence. He continued. "So of course we had to send a bird back to the village and let them know what was happening exactly. But in the meantime of waiting to see if orders were going to change, we couldn't just let the merchants die." He paused here thoughtfully, before spinning over to a shelf and grabbing my pack of cards that I had brought with me into the forest of death and Wave. "Well I guess I could have." He amended, after some thought.

"And why's that? Mission leader surely would've been mad at you for just letting the clients die." I tilted my head confused.

He laughed and bopped my head with the cards. "Who do you think I am? I was the mission leader. Well….sort of anyway. It was listed as a newer jonin, Yugao, but that was more because she needed experience leading. Once it was upgraded, she kind passed it off to me because I was the most senior on the team. Not a bad leap in logic; the upgraded scroll from the village put me in charge over her afterwards anyway. She just set it up before the village confirmed it."

I hummed thoughtfully, impressed with him. It was hard to remember that my friend was an elite ninja in the village. He probably had a scary ninja persona and all. It was just hard for me to picture.

"You know sometimes I forget." He turned to look at me questioningly. He had been gazing around my room looking for things to pack on my 3 day long mission, but there didn't seem to be much left in my room that hadn't already made it into my pack.

"I forget that you're…" I struggled to find the words. "…well you! I mean I know you're a jonin badass ANBU whatever." His eyes went wide and arms were already waving in protest. He looked like he was gonna interrupt me, but I cut him off. "but like I know you're like that now. Its hard to remember that when you were just a little older then me, you were already a jonin. Of course you had the most experience in the team—you've been a jonin forever now!" I frowned thoughtfully. " Meanwhile, here I am, forever a genin."

I was just slightly bitter my team hadn't been given a chance to enter the third round of the exams. We had crushed the first two. But I sighed, ignoring the upset.

Shisui had a quiet frown on his face. He looked at me, have even more serious then Kakashi sensei's had been the day before.

"Being a jonin isn't always the most fun thing around. I think sometimes…" He hesitated before he continued, "Maybe its better that you don't need to be rushed up the levels. Certainly its less jarring to be introduced to things slowly."

By things, he meant murder and other depravity. But ninja typically danced around actually saying what we did as it was polite. I rolled my eyes at Shisui.

"Yea yea, I know." I glanced around my empty room. "Do you think I'm ready to run away from home now? I have literally everything I own on my back."

I shrugged the pack onto my shoulders, groaning at the weight and cycling chakra into my legs in anticipation of the workout. Shisui sniggered at me and led me out of the house towards the village gates.


	19. Chapter 19

Authors note at the end

~Linebreak~

We left the village at a sprint, almost immediately taking to the trees. Kakashi lead, I took my place behind him, followed by Sasuke and Naruto on either side of me. Unlike the in the Forest, we weren't trying to hide our presence and could afford to take a point guard position. Sensei gave no explanation for the hard pace and none of us had any breath to question the run.

We ran the entire day, stopping for a unforgiving five minute rest around midday where we scarfed down water, rations, and went to the bathroom. There was no time for conversation—there wasn't even time to catch our breath before sensei let out a sharp whistle and lead us back into the treetops.

We finally stopped at sunset, when the sky had just taken on the orange-pink of pre night light. I stood leaning against a tree, gasping for breath and clutching at my side in pain from the barely healed wounds. Sasuke was collapsed on the ground next to Naruto—although his stamina was better then the average genin, the mix of chakra cycling, chakra control, and general aerobic work of long distance endurance running left him a pale sweaty mess.

Shockingly, Naruto, who had struggled to keep up the majority of the day, was recovering faster then either Sasuke or I. He already had recovered from his ragged breathing and was slowing beginning to even out the deep huffs into more regular breaths. His face had a sheen of sweat, but the redness from working out was already beginning to fade as his heart rate dropped back to its resting pace.

I stared at him incredulous before giving up and letting myself slide to the floor in pain. Sensei eyed us all dispassionately, his arms crossed. He looked like he always did—unflappable and unbothered. That wasn't to say that he hadn't worked hard; I could see the slight sheen of sweat on his brow and he had a slight flush to his cheeks that let me know that he hadn't been simply _walking_ but clearly this pace was more like a jog to him then the grueling punishment it was to the rest of us.

The first Sasuke was the first to recover both his wits and his breath. He asked one of his startlingly rare questions: "Where are we?"

Okay, maybe he hadn't recovered all his wits because that wouldn't have been _my_ first question. Distractedly I answered him, glancing around the forest as I spoke. "We're probably half a days run outside of the border of Fire Country. We ran perhaps the length of fire country today including all the doubling back."

"Doubling back?" Naruto questioned, looking around us curiously. Sasuke also looked taken aback.

Sasuke Hmm'd. "I didn't notice that. Just the genjutsus sensei was laying." I blinked.

"Genjutsus?" I questioned, glancing towards our teacher. Sensei had pulled his pack off and was ruffling through it. He glanced at the sky and seeing no clouds, put a scroll away. He left out another and unsealed it, revealing a bed roll. I blinked at it tiredly then pulled my own heavy pack off to find my own bed roll. The other Naruto was already unrolling his on the ground and Sasuke was moving to follow.

"I laid a few genjutsu down as we traveled." Sensei spoke up after a moment of silence. I jumped, tired enough that I'd already forgotten the question. "And I had us double back a couple times so that no one would notice where we were going, leaving a trail or not."

Satisfied with his bed roll, he stood up and glanced at us. "Sasuke you're on latrine duty. Naruto you're digging out a fire pit and setting up a spit. Kage, you're on food duty." He winced almost imperceptibly. "Try not to get a squirrel. I hate squirrels."

Too tired to argue, I grabbed some kunai from a pouch in my pack rather then use the ones in my side pouch—that would mean restocking later and that was work I didn't want to do. Slowly, my other two teammates stood along with me and got to our duties.

By the time I was far enough from our campsite to hear signs of life, full dark was upon us. Nearing winter now, the sunsets were shorter, the nights cooler. I blinked and looked around me taking in the night with crystal clear clarity, once again thankful for my family and the great night vision I had been blessed with.

I _did_ notice a small family of squirrels playing in the trees. Listening to sensei, I avoided them and instead followed the sound of churning water. A small slip of water ran through the forest, barely a stream it was so small. I tiredly claimed a tree looking down on the water source and crouched on an overhanging branch, ready. I had only been waiting for a few minutes when a bird fluttered to the ground. I ignored it. It was too small to feed the four of us. Once it had flown off, I had a slightly longer wait before the next encounter. This time was a small fox, peering suspiciously around the clearing. I waited until it had ducked its head to drink in the stream before I launched myself off the branch at the animal.

I swooped down silently, only startling the fox when I landed on its back. It was already too late for the mammal. As it was turning to try and snap at its attacker, I gripped my kunai tighter and pulled it across in one smooth motion, slitting the throat of the fox. I held it firmly in place while it thrashed for a few moments before finally growing still. I tiredly stood up and grabbed the fox by its hind legs and tossed it over my back. It was a small thing, no where near full grown and wasn't to heavy to carry even in my exhausted state.

I made my way back to the campsite, tripping in the dark for all that I could see just fine. I was exhausted, mentally and physically.

While I had taken Sensei's advice to heart about the training weights, I was still feeling the hard pace of today. The lack of weight I normally had on meant nothing compared to the distance and speed we'd run. Especially straight out of the hospital. I had expected an easy mission. Not this grueling pace.

I found a quiet grouping when I got back, as well as merrily dancing fire, dug into the ground to avoid the radius of its light. The tongues of flame barely danced over the pit, which already had a macguyere'd apparatus of tree branches to hang my catch from. I sluggishly brought my catch over and dumped it next to Sasuke. He obligingly began skinning the creature as I let my legs finally fold in and let myself fall to the ground. I let myself fall back, throwing my arm over my face to cover my eyes.

"Ugh" I let out a grunt of pain. Naruto moaned in commiseration. Sasuke Hm'd in agreement.

Kakashi sensei chucked ominously. "Children, are you unhappy with todays pace?"

I paused reflecting on his question. It was telling that Naruto and Sasuke stayed quiet as well.

'They're probably waiting on you' I internal thought, remembering what sensei had said about being a leader on the team.

With that responsiibiitly, I sat up from my slump and frowned at the other two thoughtfully.

"…Yeeeeees." I stretched out the word carefully, still thinking about it. I didn't want to trigger Kakashi's sense of contrariness and have him speed up the run tomorrow but—"I think at this rate, we're going to be unfit for duty when we finally reach our mission."

"Oh I lied. There's no mission." The fire popped cheerfully in contrast to horror I felt growing. Sensei continued on blithely. "Your guardians will be informed of course, otherwise they would wonder where you've gone. But the hokage approved me for an indeterminately long training trip!"

"indeterminately…" Sasuke sounded shocked and despondent at the same time.

"Sensei, you told us to pack for two days!" I cried desperately hoping he was lying.

He eye smiled at me. "Of course I told you two days! Thats what the manifest we left at the front gate says too! No one knows you're out here right now except myself and the hokage. And soon your parents." He nodded at me.

"Is this cause of that snake guy?" Naruto questioned bluntly.

"In part." Sensei motioned for Sasuke to add the fox to the spit. He unfroze and stuck the sharpened wood through the animal. "Clearly, your team was targeted."

"Sasuke-teme was targeted." A grumpy Naruto grumbled without any real feeling.

Sensei sighed. "Mah, yes it _was_ Sasuke who was targeted. But all of you ended up feeling the effects of that. So I took you out of the village, where no one knows you are and where you would—hopefully—be safe. With the Hokage's consultation of course." I relaxed a little.

"So today was about getting away from the village where no one could find us? It wasn't about getting to some B rank mission assignment as fast as possible?" I let my tension dissolve from my shoulders a little.

"Of course not!" Sensei sounded shocked at the accusation and the rest of the tension evaporated. Today's pace had been brutal.

"Today was about beginning day one of training! You all are lacking in a few departments. I already spoke with Kage about it" He nodded to me, before turning to the other two boys. "Tomorrow I'll speak with each of you separately and explain your new training plan going forward." He eye smiled again.

"Don't worry though, I'll make sure we have time for a long run every once in a while! By the last day of training I expect us to be able to redo today loop in a fraction of the time it took today—a necessary improvement."

I let myself fall back to my slump and let out another groan, echoed by my teammates.

~linebreak~

The next morning we began what would be our training for the foreseeable future.

Sensei created two clones and pulled them off to speak to each of the boys in the solitude of the forest while he motioned for me join him next to his pack. He was rummaging through his pack and I was still sleep deprived because Sensei had woken us before the crack of dawn, so I let myself fall into a seated position next to him, crossing my legs underneath me in a lazy seiza.

After a dramatic moment, of which I'm sure sensei orchestrated because he liked drama, he let out a significant "Aha!" and pulled out a beautiful blade. It was shorter then a katana, but longer then Shisui's tanto. It was a black and gold wrapped handle with golden triangles woven into thick rope covering the handle. The physical blade was covered in a scabbard with intricate designs going up the side and some kanji that I couldn't quite make out. The scabbard matched the black and gold design, the kanji in a faint unreflective gold which contrasted nicely with the stylish pattern etched up the side of the black leather.

Sensei spoke quietly. "This is a wakizashi, a short sword often worn with a katana. The Hatake's of past used to wear them as a pair until they broke off from the samurai lifestyle. Once they became shinobi, they dropped the use of the katana to distinguish themselves. The pair of blades —the katana and the wakizashi—is called a big-little. The little blade was chosen because it was seen as less samurai like and more shinobi." He paused here and I pulled my eyes away form the blade for a moment to look this face.

Sensei wasn't looking at me; he seemed lost in his own thoughts as he gazed at the blade. He didn't sound upset, but more—I couldn't place the emotion. Wistful?

I looked back at the blade, nothing how carefully wrapped the handle was, how there was no sign of any other user. The scabbard had a few nicks, but nothing overt. For all intents and purposes this looked _nearly_ unused.

After the thoughtful pause, sensei spoke again, "You'll be using this wakizashi in our training. Let me show you—" I didn't realize I was leaning forward until sensei moved to unsheathe the blade. The second the metal flashed in the daylight I took in a sharp breath.

I reeled back from my seated position, falling awkwardly on my hands, but dragged myself still further back.

Sensei stayed where he was. His face, what I could see of it, was rather blank, but he hadn't moved to unsheathe the sword anymore then it was already drawn.

I took a second to catch my breath and slow my racing heart, purposefully not looking at the sword. I was pretty embarrassed to have such a visceral reaction. I had known after all that sensei was going to be training me in using a sword. But I couldn't help it as memories of pain this body had never felt flooded my brain.

"That was…an interesting reaction." Sensei pushed the sword back into its sheath and carefully set it to his side. He tilted his head curiously at me and silently motioned for me to move back to my previous position.

I hesitated for only a moment before sliding forward on the dirt towards sensei—I wasn't scared of him after all, just the sword that I could no longer see.

I didn't meet sensei's gaze, studiously looking down at my lap, still embarrassed at myself. He let out a half groan-half sigh.

"When did this start, I wonder? Not before Wave, you handled that just fine." He thought aloud for my benefit.

I let out a small noise of protest. "I didn't see Zabuza's sword when he attacked me. He was blocked by the mist. And it wasn't this…close. I just froze then cause he was further back."

"So before Wave then?" Sensei sounded incredulous. I flinched. Had I really told sensei just a day ago that I was willing to learn how to use a sword? Had I really forgotten I had a phobia of sharp objects?

"Always, I think." I know. I remembered. I failed to hold back a shudder.

"But not kunai and shuriken?" In another situation, sensei's bafflement would've been funny. Here it was frustrating because how was I supposed to explain that I could be a competent ninja with a fear of sharp objects particularly covered in blood.

"Eh—only with blood on them." I tried to not wince when I said it. So like anytime I would need it as a ninja.

Sensei heaved out a deep sigh. "Do you have any idea what caused this…aversion?" he phrased it carefully.

I wondered how to use my experience with Itachi as an excuse. I thought for a long moment before I opened my mouth. Then I closed it and thought more carefully about what I wanted to say. Part of my openness was my total exhaustion. But part of my openness was because this was Hatake Kakashi, and in the few short months I'd been assigned to team seven, he'd become like another member of my small family. I, strangely enough, trusted him.

I opened my mouth again and spoke slowly, careful of how I wanted to phrase this. "I never meant to hide this…but I never knew how to bring it up without people thinking I was crazy."

Kakashi patted my head soothingly. "No one is gonna think you're crazy for having a phobia."

I wrinkled my nose at him, "Well that's not exactly true. You see, I'm scared of knives because I remember dying from one. Being murdered actually."

Sensei sighed. "I read your file and I know you went head to head with Itachi Uchiha at a young age—you might not remember it, but it would've been enough to cause nightmares. You actually ended up passed out from chakra exhaustion, which would've added to a dream like effect. Combined with Wave, I probably should've been checking on you guys more. The forest didn't help of course bu—"

I let out a slightly hysterical giggle. "You think I'm talking about _nightmares_?" Sensei leaned back seeming slightly worried about the maniacal look that was probably on my face.

"Kage-cha—"

"Sensei, you're not going to believe me…but I'm absolutely certain I lived an entire life _before this one._ And I remember it. And I remember dying. By being murdered. And I had no way of proving it, so I never mentioned it before." At sensei's blank face I gave him a shaky grin.

"At least it's not nightmares though?"

Sensei stayed quiet for a moment clearly digesting what I had said. He came to the obvious conclusion. I was insane. I could tell the moment he started placating me, his gaze pitying.

"Kage-chan, when did you first realize you were a reincarnation?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. "You don't believe me. Fine. Let me try my best to explain it to you. I first realized when I was in the orphanage. Because I was a baby again and the last thing I remembered was getting stabbed in an alley. Kind of had to put two and two together."

"Kage-chan…I don't want you to not trust me. I believe you." He eye smiled at me but I frowned at him unimpressed. I noticed the tense posture he'd taken as well as the sudden alertness in his gaze. "So what happened in this 'orphanage'?"

I rolled my eyes again. "Okay you can think I'm crazy, but there is _no_ reason to doubt the orphanage claim. You know Shikaku is my adopted dad right?"

Sensei was quiet here. He didn't meet my eyes. I exploded.

"You said you read my file! You even knew about the night of the massacre! Thats classified!" I exclaimed.

Slightly sheepish despite the tense atmosphere, Sensei rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I mean, I skimmed the family stuff. It was all self explanatory I thought. Read more about the psychological profile and instructors evaluations."

"And you've never realized…? I mean I wasn't trying to hide it. I love my mom and dad but I love my birth mom too. She was a Nara too. My dad's sister."

Sensei nodded agreeably. "Okay so you lived in an orphanage. And what happened then?"

He nudged me forward in the tale.

"I'm cutting some stuff out, but I met Shikaku when I was three. I was adopted, brought to Konoha and you know everything about me since. But at first, I was too young to explain to them about the past life thing. Who would believe a kid? It would've been seen as a make believe thing. And by the time I realized the Yamanaka could check, I'd already discovered that entering a childs head too young could cause permanent damage that I didn't want to risk and that I was sure my dad wasn't going to risk either. Then I grew up and suddenly, I wasn't a kid anymore. There was no set point where it was like yup kid yesterday but adult today. But more like at a certain point where if I brought it up, it would've been awkward like 'Woah Kage, you've been like this all your life and never thought to tell anyone?' and then after a while it just never really came up in conversation.

Till now." I finished lamely.

Sensei sighed and patted my head again. "We're going to need to take you for a psych eval when you get back to the village."

I groaned. "I figured. It'll be bothersome, but I guess Inochi-san will be able to peak around my head and see."

"It's all in the details." Sensei agreed and eye smiled at me. "Do you know something about Iwa because you grew up there? Or how about Suna? Maybe Kiri if you were stabbed to death. I've heard it can be a very violent place." He teased.

I felt my mouth take an O shape. "No way." I crossed my arms in an x over my chest.  
"If I grew up as a ninja before, I would be a prodigy this time around. I had to actually work to get to where I am. And every time I think I know something, I end up being wrong. I thought I was as fast as a tokubetsu jonin before the wave trip. _Wrong._ If I had been a ninja before, I would just know these things."

"…You are some kind of genius though. A little smidgen of a prodigy maybe. Team seven passed the second portion of the exams ridiculously easily. The whole team is shaping up to be incredibly quick at learning—"

I cut him off. "Stop talking yourself up sensei. That's because you're an amazing teacher, but that's not what I'm saying. In my past life…" I let myself think back wistfully on a time when I could be even lazier then I already was. I had really taken it for granted. "I wasn't a ninja. No one was. Chakra didn't exist."

Sensei blinked. Processed. Then burst out laughing. "How can chakra not exist? Thats like saying air doesn't exist. Or water." I grinned in acknowledgment. His short chuckle had lightened the mood significantly. I leaned back on my heels.

"The whole world didn't have any chakra. Or if it did, it couldn't be accessed like it can here. And it didn't affect everything like it does here. I was actually training to be a doctor. All my years of study made useless because the chakra system throws every body system interaction that I had already learned. As an aside, you were right; what you said about being a medic: I don't have the knowledge anymore: I'd basically have to relearn a new human body.

But, yea, no chakra on anyone. Almost completely different medical techniques. More reliance on science, government, society. There was no constant state of violence. No ninja…No child soldiers either."

I paused here. I had already said way more then I had _ever_ planned on telling anyone. I hadn't been lying earlier; there was no reason to keep my reincarnation a secret—I had just never gotten around to informing anyone. But if I was going to tell anyone…Kakashi-sensei was probably one of my top choices, behind only dad and Shisui.

"So I know you think I'm crazy pending verification from a Yamanaka, but can you believe me pending that same verification?" I pleaded with him. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and wavered my lip.

He gave me a droll stare back, before finally sighing and relaxing his posture from his tenseness. "It's pretty hard to believe Kage-chan. And you're telling me that _no one_ else knows. I still can't believe you could have kept something this big a secret?" He ended it on a question still stuck in a state of disbelief.

I shrug. "It honestly never came up." At his disbelieving look, my voice rose in defense. "Honestly! I just explained it to you! Everyone would've thought I was absolutely insane anyway. In my old world, I _never_ would have mentioned it. They didn't have Yamanaka to doubt check these kind of things."

We were silent for a moment before Kakashi reached for the wakizashi again. I tensed but sensei made no move to unsheathe it.

Instead he simply moved to hand it to me, still in the sheath. I hesitated before taking hold of it.

I tried to not let my hand dip at the weight, but it was much heavier then expected. A solid weight of black cool black metal, I could see the faint gold characters on the scabbard as well as the intricate triangles woven into the handle. I didn't move to unsheath it either; instead I simple examined the outside of the blade while I felt sensei study me.

"I had a whole day of training planned." Sensei said wryly, at last. "And you've really gone and thrown all that out the window."

I turned my gaze back to meet his, grinning slightly. "Surprise."

He rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair, before standing up.

"You're going to get that sword out of the sheath. On your own. Hopefully today. I'll be over there-" He pointed to in a general direction that was away from me. "—reading. Unless you need anything."

And then he left.

I refused to mistreat the blade. It clearly was important to Kakashi sensei-a representation of his family. Of the entire Hatake family. The fact that my tight lipped teacher had bothered to tell me the history of the Samurai and the big little pairing meant that much. So on my first attempt to pull out the sword, I didn't let myself throw the whole contraption away from me mid panic attack.

It would have landed in the dirt. And something so beautiful deserved better then the dirt.

But it was difficult. I had to struggle to hold it in my lap, immediately slamming the sword back into the sheath with more force then necessary.

In the meantime, I tried to come to terms with the fact that I had just spilled a lifelong secret to sensei. I suppose I could have been feeling relief. I could have been feeling fear.

I could have been feeling a lot of things; I didn't really feel anything, however. To be honest, I was still so exhausted from the day before that if there wasn't a sword in my lap, I was sure I could have fallen asleep at any moment. Maybe their was a smidgen of relief that of all people I'd chosen Kakashi-sensei. But otherwise my overriding emotion was bone tired exhaustion.

After my third attempt, I paused before trying to unsheathe the sword again. I took a few deep breaths trying to slow my racing heart and bring down the adrenaline. It was damn embarrassing that the glint of metal could frighten me like this. I got excited from battles for fucks sake— I was enjoying most of the chunin exams minus a certain snake-prick—because of potential for danger.

Why was it that a fucking inanimate sword could scare me so much?

Unable to come up with an answer on my own, I wondered it aloud for sensei as well.

He hmm'd thoughtfully but didn't verbalize anything so I continued.

"I never told anyone about dying before." I said it thoughtfully. "But when I died, it was my first real taste of violence. I had never gotten in a fight. I wasn't very outdoorsy. I was as civilian as they come."

I paused lost in my memories, bittersweet as they were. Today was a really weird day and I needed a nap or I was going to start crying soon.

"So you're scared of dying again?"

I sharply turned my head from the wazikashi in my lap to sensei. His gaze was nonchalantly on his book. His voice was feigned relaxed. "Maybe that's why you don't want to open the sword. You're scared to die. Being a ninja means death and dying after all. It's easy to forget with D ranks. But maybe seeing this blade reminds you of the reality of it all."

I dropped my gaze back to the sword. Was that right?

I flipped the blade over, tracing the pattern of woven rope in the handle with one finger. I hefted the whole blade up and brought it to eye level examining the outer sheath and handle with a careful eye. It was gorgeous. Masterfully crafted. A thought came to me and my head popped up. I looked over at Kakashi.

"Does the sword have a name?"

"Yes. But that's for later. Don't worry about names for the time being."

I went back to studying the wakizashi. The forest was silent except for the sound of animals and wind. I wondered what my teammates were doing. Probably still talking with sensei if the silence was any judge. I tried to focus my thoughts.

"I'm not scared of death." I said carefully. I kept the blade at eye level. Holding the sheath with my left hand, I grabbed the handle firmly with my right. "Dying was painful. I screamed and cried out for help. But nobody came. I was so scared. Terrified. What took seconds felt like hours. Dying is something I never want to experience again." I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before took a deep breath and opened them again trying to hold onto my resolve.

"But I'm not scared of death. That was easy. Nice even. Comfortable. And then I woke up. What was to hate about that?" With that mantra in my head—I'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDeathI'mNotScaredOfDea—I yanked the Wazikashi out of the sheath completely.

I held my breath while I stared at the blade. My thoughts were racing: _It was deadly, it was made to kill, it was like the one that had killed me, it was a knife, made to kill, deadly, shiny, soon to be bloody._

And at the same time: It was absolutely stunning. It was a glistening black metal that, on the top half of the blade seemed to absorb the sun. The coloring was a true black, the color of ink. The bottom half of the blade was a darker gray, almost black that was shined to reflection, like a ghostly mirror.

A hand came down on my shoulders and then I realized sensei was crouched beside me.

"—breath Kage-chan, that's it another deep breath, there you go—" I laid the empty scabbard on the ground next to me but kept the blade in hand. I angrily wiped away a tear from my face, and huffed annoyed.

"I didn't think I'd get this worked up over a sword. You pick the worst gifts sensei." I tried to joke.

He let out a surprised chuckle and cautiously rose from his crouch. "You did well." he ignored my comment. "Are you ready to get started?"

I glanced at the sky. Sasuke and Naruto had probably only been gone for an hour or two. This wasn't a long enough time to get over _two_ lifetimes worth of trauma. I glanced at the sword. But it was a start.

~Line break~

The days continue much like they had the first day. Sensei split us for individual training most days. Once or twice a week he made us do a stupid long run reminiscent of the run for the village that had gotten us here. Those days, after the run was finished, we worked on team drills rather then split up for individual practice. Each night we moved camp to a new location and we rotated duties to a new person so that everyone had the experience of digging latrine pits and hunting foxes or whatever else was around, excluding squirrels.

Two weeks in, before we went to bed, sensei rummaged inside his bottomless bag and pulled out three wrinkled pieces of paper. "Children, my original discussion with the Hokage involved you learning for taking you a C rank elemental jutsu each. Which you are all woefully behind on."

I didn't have the energy to complain, but Naruto jumped up. "How are we behind if you haven't started showing us yet!?"

I nodded tiredly in agreement while I heard Sasuke Hng his approval from where he was cooking dinner.

Naturally, sensei ignored us all. "Well, no time like the present, everyone take a paper."

Naruto grabbed all three and handed them out to me and Sasuke. I took it distastefully wondering if it was chakra paper. While I could've stolen some of dads and confirmed my nature years ago, I'd never bothered.

"What is it? What is it? Is it special paper-datebayo? What does it do?" Sensei stayed quiet and so did Sasuke which meant he didn't know the answer. Or at least wasn't sure about it.

"Is it chakra paper?" Sensei beamed at me. Naruto turned his attention to me. I relaxed on top of my bedroll. "Chakra paper is paper made from Hashirama trees, the type of trees all around Konoha. Its very sensitive to chakra and when made properly will react to chakra to show you primary chakra nature."

Anticipating Naruto's next question, I continued. "There are five primary chakra natures possible: Fire, lightening, water, wind, earth. elementally each one is stronger then one and weaker then another. For example water is stronger then fire but weaker then earth." I droned on, parroting a textbook. "It is sometimes inherited within families as a kekai genkai, which is a mix of two bloodlines- The boy from wave, Haku had a family that had a mix of water and wind which created ice. Some families don have these bloodline limits, but they do have a particular elemental affinity that they are inclined towards."

I made a sweeping gesture in Sasuke's general direction. "Uchiha are typically fire. Nara are typically earth. Hatake's are _always_ lightening I've heard," I say raising an eye brow at sensei who just shrugs, which I take as a yes.

Naruto looks fascinated. "So you can guess what jutsu people will use based on how they look?"

I hesitate but then nod. "Sort of. It's not full proof, but Iwa ninja, for example, are known for being earth users. If I see a blonde hair blue, eyed ninja, _not_ named Naruto, I would probably get a team of ninja of can use lightning jutsu ready. And Konoha mostly has fire as our elemental affinity. In general, fire is the most common, followed by water, then earth, then lightening, then wind which is the least common."

"Kage chan, why do you even know all of this stuff?" Sasuke asks incredulously.

I shrug from my bedroll. "The academy was dead boring sometimes. Reading up about stuff like this was more interesting then re-reviewing a lesson for the third or fourth time."

I meet Kakashi's gaze from across the fire and turn away uncomfortable, realizing that he now knows that when I say re-review a lesson, I really mean it. I'm still not quite used to having some know about the reincarnation and while I don't regret it, weeks later, it doesn't come up often so it can be easy to forget that I've mentioned it at all.

"You said that people are gonna think that we're learning elemental jutsu?"

"That's right." Kakashi happily agreed.

I frowned thoughtfully. "Sensei are you helping us keep our skill set hidden?"

Before Naruto could ask Sasuke explained, his gaze also thoughtful on sensei, "What she's asking is if sensei is helping us learn things but keeping it hidden from the village so that people underestimate us."

Suddenly my mind jumped back to the chunin exams. "Like spy boy! Was the grey haired kid with glasses in the exams a plant? He was a Konoha genin?"

Sensei frowned at me. "Not that I'm aware of. He's a life time genin that tends to do a lot of hospital work. Pretty good with medical ninjutsu but keeps trying for the promotion just in case. Will probably just settle for genin soon."

I glanced at my teammates. before frowning at sensei. "I guess in all the commotion, I kind of forgot to mention that I think he's really suspicious. He had these info cards with info on all of us. Detailed info. Stuff from the Academy only thought. And mission logs; how many A rank, B rank etc. I noticed when I saw his card that it had no info on Sasuke's genjutsu, or Naruto's sensing. But it had details that are not common knowledge in the village about our specialties. And he had one for at least all the genin in the room."

"His name was Kubuto." Naruto added helpfully. I nodded my head in agreement.

Sensei frowned, then shook his head. "I'll get a letter to the village and make sure it gets handled. Anyway…"

Sensei clapped his hands to fully grab our attention. "We won't start the lessons till tomorrow, but I want to know what your affinities are now so that I can at least have tonight to plan some lessons."

Obligingly, I turn to Naruto and lift the paper. "You just need to add chakra and see how the paper reacts; it will tell you your affinity."

I reach for my own drained reserves and grab a tendril of chakra. Calling on it with no seals has become much easier after training with sensei, so much so that I think I could do a seal-less kai against a weaker genjutsu, which is good news for my future one handed seals. I slowly move the trickle of chakra into the paper as I hear Naruto shout out in alarm. I glance at his paper which has split in two. Wind.

I turned back to my own paper. Crumpled. …Lightening…

"Fire." Sensei announced pointing at Sasuke, then me and Naruto in turn. "Lightening. And wind. This is an odd combination for a team. And pretty uncommon as well."

I stare at my paper. This can't be right. Nara are Earth affinity. I should be Earth. I speak outlaid before I can shut my mouth. "My father must be a Kumo ninja." I gawk at the paper uncomprehendingly.

In my past life, we had done blood typing in biology class. There was a story, an old wives tale really, that a girl doing the test had discovered that she was adopted because it was impossible for two type O parents to create an AB child.

This was kind of the same thing. I knew I had a biological father out there somewhere; maybe alive maybe dead. But I hadn't known what village. I hadn't known civilian or ninja. In fact ninja was very unlikely and discouraged for infiltrators.

Seeing my teammates worried looks I cursed my outburst but explained my silent thoughts. "My mom, my biological mother, was an infiltrator. While on a mission for Konoha, she got pregnant with me, and had to leave. Unfortunately,she was chased down and killed. I always thought she was discovered and ran…or something. I don't know, I never really gave it much thought. Infiltrators have a high incidence of death on the job. Lots of suicides to preserve village secrets. So I figured that my father was some random civilian.

But in a civilian, the chakra affinity isn't trained up, so my mother's affinity, earth, would have dominated. The only way I wouldn't be earth, or even fire for a civilian with slightly more active chakra, is if my biological dad _wasn't_ a civilian but someone with a lightening affinity. And Kumo has the highest number of them…And it explains why my mother was being chased down; who cares about some wife of a civilian. But the mother of a shinobi's child? It explains a little more about how she died anyway."

My eyes were wide as I stared at the paper.

"I didn't know you were adopted Kage-chan." Naruto said shyly. I snorted. Everyone on team seven was technically an orphan. Didn't we make a happy bunch.

"Neither had Kakashi sensei and he'd supposedly read my file. I doubt it's common knowledge. Dad was pretty good about making sure our family stayed under the radar. And I never talk about it. I love my family." I explain quietly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Are you going to try and find out who he is?" Naruto queried.

I sat up quickly, crossing my arms into an x. "NO WAY." I shouted panicked. Both my teammates looked alarmed.

I forced myself to calm down. "No way." I repeated, calmer but no less forcefully. "I plan on making jonin one day. The number of people who make it to jonin are few and far between and it's not always because there skills aren't good enough. If the village has any reason to doubt your loyalty; well you'll be a life long chunin. Tokubetsu jonin if you prove yourself. Fraternizing with the enemy would be showing disloyalty. In fact, this is probably why dad made sure this wasn't big news. As jonin commander, he would know how much being born outside the village hurts my chances at ever reaching jonin…"

I trailed off, paling at the thought. Finally I pick up my thoughts again. "I have NO interest in my birth father…Lets just forget this conversation ever happened." I finish firmly, forcing myself to lay back on my bed roll.

The campsite is quiet until Sasuke announces that the food is ready.

~Linebreak~

Over the next few days, lessons continue, except now elemental affinity lessons are tossed into the mix as well. Now I have even less chakra when I go to sleep every night, if thats even possible. I'm showing no progress in the lightening training either. I am physically exhausted, mentally I am still terrified of my sword, although everyday the initial drawing of the blade gets a little easier.

I haven't been keeping track of days so I have no idea how long we have been out of the village this morning. The days have a tendency to blur together, in a not unpleasant way.

"Today we're running." Sensei says shortly as he finished packing up his bedroll. His presence from the campground last night has already been erased. It's Naruto's turn this time to clear the site for which I'm grateful. I finish packing up my bag and stand to the side waiting for Naruto to finish scuffing the dirt, moving rocks, and generally hiding our presence.

As I wait, Sasuke shuffles over and I begin debriefing him on his training and informing him of my own. I'll need to know what he's been working on so that we can include it in our drill training this afternoon.

Sensei has continued Sasuke's lessons on genjutsu and ninja wire. Now that Sasuke has an active Sharingan, sensei has been showing Sasuke how to weave more and more intricate genjutsu with less and less hand signs. They can be scarily convincing but Sasuke has a horrible habit of just throwing people right into the middle of them; sensei has been trying to show him how to lure them in, change things about the environment slowly, not all at once so that its less abrupt and noticeable.

Caught in a genjutsu, Sasuke claims its very easy to get someone to run into a ninja wire and slice off their own head— no other work on his part necessary. It's yet to be seen if he can actually do it on anyone other then a Naruto clone, however.

Although I haven't talked to Naruto yet today, and probably wont have a chance to until just before the drills later today, he's been working on his hand to hand combat. Sensei has been drilling him on kata's over and over again. He's been doing tons of sparring. He's had more time then anyone to focus on his Wind training. Sasuke, having already managed his grand fireball jutsu is given the least time by sensei. Even with the time adjustments for each of us, all three of us haven't managed much success in out elemental training.

Besides, it felt like Naruto and Sasuke had more time to learn about their elements. I felt like I was drowning in the amount of information I was supposed to be learning.

Naruto and Sasuke both had time in Wave to begin at least creating a foundation for some of these skills. I was stuck learning how to use a sword _and_ how to form hand sign one handed _and_ how to use Lightening elemental release all in this single training trip. The hand sign bit wasn't going well so far either, even thought I had sensei guiding my chakra formation with his sharingan. It was too difficult at the moment.

With my immobilization out for the time being, Naruto's training was coming into play; sensei was showing him different strategies to hold enemies in place. All different kinds of forceful take downs and submissions.

In the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Cho attacks and distracts. Shika captures and holds. Ino then controls their mind and boom mission completed.

Kakashi had created a bastardized assassination version of an Ino-Shika-Cho team. We each had our own skills, and we each would be able to be individual ninjas on our own, but within the team we had a purpose: Sasuke was going to be the Cho- the attacking and distracting from far away; Naruto and his clones was going to be the Shika, by capturing and physically holding the enemy in place; and I was going to be the Ino- Strike hard and fast.

Within my own training, I was focusing on the katas for the Hatake style of sword fighting. It was a mix of hand to hand and blade work, the blade an extension of the arm, and included elbows and feet just as often as it did the sword. It required flexibility and agility. It was something you teach to a child and form their body to because it was such an aggressive style.

Instead, sensei was simple beating my body into the shape of the style instead.

It was the only thing I was excelling at. Years of doing yoga had left me a body wiling to do the demanding stretches, albeit with complaint. Years of spars with Shisui had raised my agility- not high enough but at least to slightly higher then it would've been. And the aggression was something that was surprisingly easy to jump into.

I was loving it. If it wasn't for the fact that I was scared shitless to draw my sword, I would've wished I had started this years ago. I couldn't believe I'd ever considered _not_ being a front line fighter. But then again, I was getting more and more comfortable with the sword everyday. Hopefully one day I'd be fine.

But with the focus on combat, I was struggling to learn one handed seals. The goal was to be able to control my shadows with one hand. This would free up Naruto on the battle field as well as give me an advantage by essentially giving me extra limbs. But holy shit it was difficult.

And with the introduction of elemental chakra? Forget about it. Like I said, none of us had managed a jutsu yet, except Sasuke who already had his clans fireball jutsu mastered. The days weren't long enough for the amount of training that sensei was trying to squeeze in.

When Naruto finally finished with the campsite, sensei started us on our run, hard and fast as usual. I was out of breath almost immediately. I knew it would stay this way for the entirety of the run. I tried to keep my breaths even, slow and quiet. I focused on my form, bringing my knees up with each step. I planted my foot carefully behind Naruto after each step he took, Sasuke doing the same behind me. We ran in a line, just like sensei had trained us, practicing leaving as little a trace behind us as possible. Stealth was key.

Only a few minutes in, something different happened on this run. Naruto stopped running and I almost ran into him, barely managing to jump to the side of him, Sasuke managing slightly more gracefully to land on Naruto's other side because he had more time to react.

Sensei had kept going, but quickly noticed and hopped back to join us. Naruto looked confused and worried at the same time. It was an alarming look on his normally cheerful face.

'ENEMIES?' He signed carefully, just like we'd practiced for the chunin exams. He cocked his head south east, vaguely in the direction of the village and slightly off course of where we'd been headed in our run.

"We're still in the land of fire-" Sasuke started to explain to Naruto before Sensei cut him off and looked at Naruto seriously.

'HOW MANY' Sensei signed slowly for Naruto's sake but I could see Sasuke straighten up all the same. Within our own country, it probably wasn't enemies, just a fellow Konoha team returning from a mission. But…sensei was taking it seriously. And Naruto hadn't noticed _any_ other ninja in the whole time we'd been out here so far. Which was rather odd. Which meant that sensei probably knew that no ninja should be in this area.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and I could see him mentally counting. '6' He looked certain.

Sensei signed, still slowly, but slightly quicker. ' YOU HOLD, I SCOUT, BE BACK'

Before we had any chance to react he flickered away. I looked at my teammates warily. Sasuke eyed us both, then flicked open a pouch at his side and pulled out some ninja wire and a shuriken. Naruto copied him, pulling out a kunai. I gripped the handle of my wakizashi, strapped horizontally across my lower back, where the pack didn't interfere with it, but didn't draw it yet. All of us stood at attention, eyes alert.

Sensei wasn't gone long. He returned in another flicker that I barely caught with my eyes. His face looked rather grim, but it brightened when he saw us looking so alert. Keeping his voice low, he informed us of what he'd seen.

"There's a camp of ninja a few meters out. Very close actually, we're lucky they didn't notice us first. They're not wearing any distinguishing marks, village insignia, eceterea. They're all chunin or genin. 4 sitting around a fire, two sentries standing at the edge of the campsite, within eye site of the fire. Very sloppy. Just waking up for the day. There are two people there who looked to be in charge. One had a red bandana on. The other one had a purple vest and a pair of glasses on. Both of them are by the fire. They need to be captured. What's the plan?"

I blinked. Okay, first, Kakashi's insane training schedule had managed to get us up earlier then infiltrating ninja. Someone needed to have a talk with the man, but right now wasn't the time. Second,…he was leaving the planning to us. This was a training moment.

I looked at my teammates and found their gaze on me.

"We're on a time crunch, if they're just waking up. We need to get there before they're on the move and more alert. No time for a detailed plan. We're gonna bare bones it and run it like a training drill. Sasuke, let's make it an unfair fight. Can you lay down a targeted genjutsu on the ninja by the fire? One that makes them sleepy? If you can actually make them fall asleep that'd be great. Naruto, I want you to take out the sentry farthest from us, further south east. Hold him down. I'll take care of the one closest to us, then come join you and take care of the second one. Then we'll move in and take out the other two ninja, finally secure the two captives and bring back anything that we find on them with identification or orders."

"And by take out you mean…?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

I wasn't feeling _squeamish,_ but distinctly uneasy for sure. I glanced at for Kakashi sensei for confirmation. He nodded stoically, so I answered. "We don't want to leave enemy ninja alive within our borders Naruto. And the four of us can't escort 6 ninja of equal rank or higher then our own rank back to the village. We're going to be able to do this because of surprise."

Sensei spoke up finally. "We're on a time crunch. I'll let you guys take the lead and hang back in case you need help.

I dropped my pack to the side, knowing that I'd have to come back to retrieve it and then, once my teammates had done the same, we moved to the infiltrators camp. We didn't pause, the second we had a visual in sight, we snapped into the basic plan.

Naruto led the way, hooking us around and then Sasuke's eyes burned red and I could feel the slight breeze as he flicked quickly through hand signs. The men in the center of the camp dropped into a daze then quickly laid themselves down to the ground to sleep. I kept my attention split focusing on them with the back of my awareness incase on of them broke the genjutsu while Naruto spammed some clones and launched himself at the sentry further away form us. I changed at the sentry closest to us.

He must have noticed the odd behavior of his teammates and turned to investigate. He noticed me coming at him and quickly drew a kunai, swinging at me.

I drew my wakizashi in one smooth motion from all the practice with sensei, pivoting on one foot to turn my body away from his wild dodge at me with a kunai. This left me at his side with a clear opening, so I turned the wakizashi up and pulled, dragging through the soft skin and sinew of his exposed armpit, just like one of the katas I had run through a few days ago.

He jerked back and let out a cry, but that left him open for a move that I had practiced, that all of team seven had practiced, hundreds of times on clones. I spartan kicked the man, letting him fall onto his back and slammed the blade down through his throat and out the back of his neck, severing his spinal cord.

Unlike all the hundreds of times, I had practiced it, this body didn't dissapear. I froze for a momnet, waiting for the poof and the explosion of smoke from the clone. But nothing. I tried not to notice the blood glistening on the black blade but it drew my eyes. I pulled my head away and turned to the clearing.

I turned to find my teammates and saw Naruto subduing the other sentry, holding him down on the ground on his knees, the foreign ninjas arms over his head, elbows together. This ninja, like the first, had brown hair and fair skin and was looking at me hatefully. I moved towards him numbly but quickly and then without any thought, I slit his throat.

Naruto let go of him in surprise, but the other ninja didn't fight, just grabbed his throat in surprise, trying to stop the blood from pouring out. For good measure, I grabbed his hair and stabbed him in the back of the neck as well, also severing his spinal cord. He dropped like a stone to the forest floor.

Naruto stared at me wide eyed. Then turned to the body, then gagged.

I looked up at the sky.

"It takes a while to die from bleeding out." I explained, fumbling for words. "This way is…" More humane. Faster. Easier. There's a lot of words. None quite fit.

I ended up dispatching the other two ninja as well. It's sickeningly easy. Naruto is in no state and honestly, knowing that reincarnation is a thing, at least i don't feel guilty about it. Or at least not _completely_ guilty. I didn't think I'd ever get over the moral code my previous life had ingrained on me.

By this point, sensei has joined us in the clearing and waved Sasuke in as well. Naruto and him end up securing the other two ninja as prisoners. They tie them up, just like we were taught in the academy, Sasuke leading because Naruto probably missed the lesson. Sasuke looks fine, unbothered by all the gore surrounding him, but Naruto looks slightly ill.

I should probably feel…something more horrifying. But to be honest? I feel a little disconnected at the moment. One of my biggest gripes with being a ninja was having to kill. But this wasn't so bad. I'd made it as painless as possible. And if anyone knew that death could be not so bad, it was me. And like I said: reincarnation. Hopefully I would get reincarnated again and not end up in hell for all the paid murders I was going to be expected to commit in this life.

(I mean I knew I was a little fucked in the head. But holy shit, I was glad it had been so easy. I didn't want to be a mass murderer. But I didn't want to let my friends die. Let my village die. And sometimes a little murder was required to maintain the status quo. )

I eyed the captives, standing next to Naruto. I put an arm around his shoulder which he seemed grateful for, leaning into me, seeming a little freaked out by everything. Sasuke was eyeing the clearing curiously. The little sociopath—was he trying to see how far the blood spatter had gone from my first strike? Weirdo. Although it was pretty far considering I'd nicked an artery.

Sensei was reading a scroll.

And maybe re reading it. He was clearly unhappy about whatever it said.

"We're cutting the training trip short. These guys need to go back to the village ASAP." I guess that meant that if he had found something less important, he would've just killed these guys and kept training us.

"What's in the scroll?" I asked curiously, peeking to try and read it. He went to pull it out of the way then paused and handed it to me curiously.

"I'm not sure that its real; it's not encrypted like I would've expected for something this serious. But it looks like orders from Suna to join to rest of her infiltration party waiting within the Land of Fire."

I gasped, grabbing the scroll and reading it in disbelief.

"Why would Sand have an infiltration group in our country? Maybe they're just supposed to be meeting with the genin in the exams and the scroll is written weird?" Naruto questioned.

"You would plant a group of people deep in Land of Fire if you were planning a sneak attack and you needed them in place." Sensei said. He'd moved to secure the prisoners even more, latching another rope around their arms and looping it around twice then a third time, pulling it tight. He pulled two seals from out of his bag and placed them on the bare chest of the ninjas, cutting open their shirts to reach skin.

I looked up from the scroll Kakashi had given to me, handing it off to the expectant Sasuke. Incredulously, I asked him, "Do you think they're planning an invasion or something? That would mean war! Sand is our ally! I know our daimyo's have been fighting but-"

Kakashi threw one of the bodies over his shoulders and then motioned for Naruto to do the same with other. When Sasuke handed him back the scroll, his eyes wide, sensei tossed it to me. I caught it with clumsy hands.

"I think it sounds exactly like an 'invasion or something'. Lets go. We're gonna swing back, grab our bags, then were hustling. I want to make it back to village before noon. We stop for nothing. If we do get involved in fight, Kage-chan go on ahead, get that scroll directly to the Hokage's hands. Move out."

~Line break~

Whoooo finally an update! Only a month and some days aha. Okay to address some points before I get them in the comments

Q: There is no way that after orochimaru attacked Sasuke that he would be allowed to eave the village on a training trip! Be realisitc!

A: Uh that's literally what happened. Except it wasn't the whole team, just Sasuke and Kakashi.

Q: Kage just got over her trauma, just like that?

A: Nope, one day at a time. But yea, thats pretty much the worst of it. She has had over a decade to resolve some of the fear and trauma. So I see no reason to harp on it.

Q: I cant believe you had her mention she was reincarnated! Why would you do that?

A: Two reasons, only one of which I will explain now. It makes sense in context of the story. Theres no reason to hide it. She's not gonna tell anything about the anime beacon then she really will seem crazy, and its not like it would be helpful considering she doesn't know everything anyway. Besides things are changing! The second reason I wont explain now.

Q: Wow you gave Kage a dad. Is she gonna run away to Kumo now? Whats her blood line list gonna be? Is she killer b's daughter? What about A's?

A: NO, NO, NO, NO. She needed a dad. She needed an affinity. Her mom needed a reason to die. This has been planned from the beginning. She's always been lightning. Its going to be used along with the kenjutsu, which also has always been planned from the beginning. There wont be any random blood line limit that lets hr go invisible or whatever the fuck thrown in, I promise. As far as the story is concerned, her dad was a jonin in Kumo that her mom seduced for information on Konoha. random jonin, not A or B or anyone we know. And not anyone to challenge her allegiance to the leaf. This just isn't one of those kind of stories.

Please feel free to comment or message me, I love to hear your theories about what you think is gonna happen to Kage. Also, I have some drabbles/ side stories that aren't important or anything to the story but I'll upload those soon. They just odds and ends that don't quite fit in here but I had to write out anyway.


	20. Chapter 20

Thanks for waiting so long for an update. I took multiple summer classes and am now finishing up my senior year of school so I've been super busy! I've actually had chapter 20 written for about a month a half now, although when I finally got around to editing it (sort of) it was too long, so now we don't actually get as far as I wanted to this chapter and instead I should have an update for you sometime next week. This chapter is about 6000 words, so a little shorter then I was hoping, but the actual chapter was at about 15000 and had too much stuff missing so I couldn't keep it all together.

Please enjoy, thank you so much for the favorites, follows, messages, and reviews; they kept me going when I was drowning in school work and didn't want to write another word of anything fanfic or homework.

Sorry if you were hoping for straight battle in this chapter. Its more politics. Blah for some. Awesome for others. Regardless, I hope you enjoy getting to hear from team 7 again. I also have some side stories posted for anyone wanting more team 7/ Kage/ Shisui interactions.

Enjoy!

~linebreak~

We'd been running for only three hours with no stop before sensei motioned for us to halt. Naruto slammed into Sensei's arm and I skidded on my branch, not quite catching myself with enough chakra to stick properly to the trunk of the tree. Sasuke would've been more graceful had he not stumbled into my shoulder. Or, the leg of the hostage he was carrying hit me, but that was just as bad.

Altogether, his was the best stop however and I begrudgingly gave him points for it. Naruto, the most unbothered by the endurance required of the killer pace sensei was running us at, was almost instantly no longer bent over at his knees, instead standing up straight, his breath already more even then mine or Sasuke's. His hostage was also slung over his shoulders, head lolling from the body slam that Naruto had received, but the ninja seemed just as un-alert as he had the whole run.

I unconsciously thought of the scroll tucked in my thigh pack, of the brusque orders from sensei before we'd grabbed our packs and left on our journey back to the village.

"Sasuke, Naruto, you guys each grab a person. No, not like that, like this. Exactly, you want their legs swung over your shoulders— like so—so that their stomach is on your back like a scarf." He quickly demonstrated for Sasuke.

He had chucked the scroll at me. "Kage-chan, you're in charge of that. No matter what, you make sure it gets back to the village. They need a heads up on a potential invasion."

Then he pulled out a kunai, cut his thumb, summoned a dog, and started us running back to the village. Honestly, I felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of things happening.

Sensei's summon, a cute little pug that under any other circumstances I would've been all over, was leading the way and had circled back to the group.

"Group of enemies ahead." His voice was gruff. Pack-un or something like that. I couldn't remember, the introductions had been brief and quick before we'd begun our literal sprint back to the village. I'd still been reeling that sensei had given me orders that were essentially, 'abandon the team and become trash'. to worry about learning the dogs name. Although, I morbidly thought that I was misunderstanding them and it was more likely that sensei reasoned: should we be attacked, as the girl on the team, I'd be the most likely left alive. We'd all studied the statistics in the academy.

We'd covered the majority of fire country in these 3 hours—it had taken us a full day, from sunrise to sunset, to get out to our location in the first place. Already I could see the mix of Hashirama trees and deciduous trees that marked the unofficial border of leaf village and the rest of Fire Country.

"Naruto?" Sensei questioned. He looked tense and more then slightly worn out from the run, although I know it was mostly his focus on the surrounding that was stressing him out. There was a tense wariness around his eyes. For my part, I hadn't been focusing on the environment at all; enemy ninja were not my worry for now. Instead I had been pondering on the contents of the letter: was it real? was it fake? Were we meant to find it?

Naruto scrunched up his nose and mentally scouted out the area. There was a longer pause then last time; either these men were better at hiding their chakra signal, or there was something different about this group. I frowned hoping it didn't mean that the group was too large for Naruto to count.

"…Three?" Naruto sounded unsure. "Maybe two. But I think that's a third one?"

There was a pause while sensei thought something over. I continued biting my lip, ruminating on the 'possibly-fake-but-maybe-real orders' conundrum. What kind of lackluster fool didn't destroy orders upon leaving the village? Just about every A rank, especially for infiltration, required at least that much—and that was saying that you even _got_ written orders. But then again, if it was so common, perhaps that was all the more reason why this was more believable. A fake plant wouldn't leave a set up with such an unbelievable set of orders.

And then again was it a plant? Were we meant to find this?

"Sasuke, Kage. You two wait here with Pakkun. Be alert. Naruto, you're with me." Kakashi motioned to Naruto to drop his pack and passenger. Naruto quickly did and then the two were gone, darting into the woods after the unseen enemies. Sasuke and I glanced at each other, then at the dog. Sasuke dropped the ninja from his shoulders, and stayed more towards the center of the grouping where both Pakkun and I could protect him. Without a word being said, Sasuke and I drew our weapons, just in case; Sasuke drew a kunai. I drew my new sword; although not entirely comfortable with it, I couldn't help but feel more attached to it after this morning.

The wakizashi gleamed wickedly in the light of day and I caught the pug glancing at it for a second before he turned back to the woods. I listened for—something. I heard nothing. Sasuke was just as tense, but also seemed just as clueless. Our hostage made no move. He was unconscious, knocked out from the combination of whatever drug sensei had given him as well as the seal sensei had thrown on his shoulders and his forehead. The seals on his upper arm/shoulder area I vaguely recognized from the academy; we'd never been shown it, but it was explained as something that would cut off all chakra flow. Meanwhile, I could only guess that the forehead one kept him in his knocked out state.

I eventually, accidentally—because I was trying to stay alert—went back to my musing. I hadn't been able to focus all morning. I couldn't help it. Now that sensei had further broken up the group, I was even more aware of my secondary mission: protect this scroll and get it to the village. But was it even a real scroll? Were we meant to find that group? To be tipped off about the invasion?

To be completely honest, everything about this was off. Everything seemed to scream zebras. That is to say, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras. Only in this case, zebras was invasion and horses was a false flag attack or a purposefully set up trap meant to set us against one of our allies from the previous shinobi wars.

 _BUT._ No one, _no one_ , knew where we were. Maybe dad, because he was Jonin Commander. But other then him? According to Kakashi-sensei, just the Hokage. And ambushing that party had been a complete surprise. Kakashi sensei hadn't expected anyone to be in the area, let alone a fellow Konoha team. Which meant it was a pretty shit place to set up a lure for a trap.

Not that an enemy would know that.

I was running around in circular logic. I had no answer. It was going to come down to trusting my gut instinct. Because everything about this screamed not an invasion, no matter what sensei said. It was to clean a layout of a plan with too many obvious flaws.

But my gut screamed that sensei's announcement of an invasion was right.

'It was going to be debunked in the village,' I thought grimly. 'but it makes sense.'

I tensed and my hand gripped the blade tighter, eyes sharpening on a movement in the woods, but then I recognized Naruto and Sensei. I relaxed slightly but not completely. Sasuke was just as tense next to me.

"It's them." The pug grumbled. I huffed out a breath and lowered my arm. Sasuke scooped up his passenger again. I glanced at Naruto, who only stopped to pick up his hostage before Sensei had moving again. He had a splash of blood along his right hand side—as a lefty, Naruto would get more blood splatters on his right hand side. It was only physics.

Naruto looked slightly shaky and more pale, but still like the same teammate that I had seen this morning. Although I was being a hypocrite, I knew Naruto; shouldn't I see a difference between an innocent and a murder? I hadn't with Sasuke but I figured that it was because I hadn't paid attention to the actual day his first kill had occurred. But, no Naruto still looked the same as always, just slightly upset. I shook off the voice in my head from my past life—the one that was still slightly upset with my own murder today— and let the running commentary from my new life take over once again.

I guess that meant all 3 of us had gotten our first kill out of the way. Wasn't team 7 precocious, knocking out milestones in the early weeks rather then waiting months like some teams?

And then we were running again.

By midday, we'd reached the main road to the village. Sensei slowed us down dramatically here, also moving to cover the face of our hostages. We kept up a respectable pace for ninja's but nothing like our dead sprint of the morning. While us genin were breathless, it was slow enough for sensei to explain the change to us.

"There's too much scrutiny here. There a couple ANBU teams watching the gates and, of course, we have international visitors here for the Chunin exams. We cant come in at a run like that; it would make some of the foreign nationals— as well as the other villages—visiting very nervous."

He left out that we didn't want to tip off that we were holding on to the other villages ninja. Politics could be tricky like that.

And then finally, _finally,_ the village gates were in sight. There was a queue a the gates, much longer then when we got back from Wave, but then again, the village was much busier and under heavier scrutiny at the moment. We joined the slow crawl of a line, Kakashi sensei eye smiling pleasantly at the chunin on duty when we finally got to the front, minutes later.

The guards eyed us suspiciously. Sasuke, Naruto and I were out of breath and still red faced from our run. All of us were covered in sweat and had some traces of blood on us, Naruto and I more then Sasuke. Not exactly the sparkling image the village wanted to present to its guests. Pakkun looked back at them, only making the image that much weirder.

"Team 7 returning from our B rank mission. Nothing of note to add." Kakashi blithely lied. I kept my face straight as I made eye contact with the guard. Sasuke scowled at the other one who was looking curiously at him. Naruto was looking curiously into the village and so missed the scrutiny.

"You're…weeks late." said the ninja on the left, a tall dark haired ninja with spiky hair and a slightly scratchy voice. He flipped through a pile of papers in his hand, eyes deftly making out information through some kind of simple code. "And it was a supposed to be an _escort mission._ Why are you checking in hostages? How is there nothing of note about hostages from _an escort mission that is_ _weeks late?_ "

The ninja on the right leaned over to read over his shoulder. "Yea, what the heck, we've had people coming to check on your return pretty much everyday for the past week and a half. It was checked in as as simple mission."

"Whoops." Kakashi's face didn't change, but his tone did. "Like I said, team 7 returning from our B rank. We can explain everything to the Hokage if its an issue. Now if you could kindly check us back in?"

The one on the right hesitated, and the person behind us in line groaned, another ninja. He looked exhausted and was holding up his teammate, a shinobi who grinned at us tiredly from the annoyed ones shoulder. The one annoyed one spoke up leaning forward and interjecting. "OH for fucks sake, it's Hatake Kakashi and his team. Something went wrong—-something always goes wrong. Just let them back in the village, so _I can get back in the village._ "

"Thanks for that, Aoba." Sensei deadpanned. Pakkun barked out a laugh. All three of us held back smiles and the village guards shrugged at each other.

"Whatever, you'll need to turn in a copy of an exception waiver to the chunin on desk duty so that they can fix this check in later on." The one on the left said, waving us in.

Sensei gave a bright wave, and led us back into the village. I wanted to relax into the cheery noise, smells, and lights of the villages.

Before any of us had a chance to release any such tension, Sensei leaned down. "Mission's not over yet. Stay alert. We need to report to the tower."

We quickly marched to the tower, hostages still on Sasuke's and Naruto's shoulders. Thankfully I didn't recognize any of my friends on the walk over, only classmates and acquaintances. People that could be nodded and smiled at. And then we were at the tower.

The Hokage was sitting on the main floor, giving out missions; he didn't always. More often then not, it was a job delegated to chunin. But it was something that he tried to do when he had the free time, and with the extra villages in Konoha, the publicity probably didn't hurt. He looked surprised to see our team walk in, but not upset.

"Team 7 returns. How was your B rank?" He smiled congenially at us. I shared a _look_ with Naruto, while sensei cleared his throat. The room, packed full of pencil pushing chunin, all quieted down at the Hokage's announcement and I grimaced.

"…It requires a debriefing Hokage-sama." After a slight pause at his non-understanding, Kakashi continued. "A secure briefing, sir."

Another pause, slightly more thoughtful. Then the hokage stood, his robes billowing out around him. "That's fine. My office, if you will." he led the way out of the now gossiping room.

Once we were safely ensconced in the Hokage's office, which was pretty sweet, his smiling face dropped. "Kakashi-san, you're back earlier then expected."

Sensei dropped into a deep crouch, one knee hitting the floor, one fist also hitting the ground, the other resting across his chest, his head bowed. "Hokage-sama. It behooved us to return to the village. We discovered evidence of a possible invasion planned on the village."

In any other circumstance, I think sensei would've tried for glib. His normal attitude was joking and irritating. But to break the news to the hokage? You have to know your audience and I must say, Sensei really got him.

Hokage-sama looked like he had been shot. He took a step back, then sat down harshly in his chair. Sensei stood up slowly. The Hokage turned away from us, reaching into his robes and pulling out a pipe as he looked out one of his enormous windows and out onto the village.

"Rat, Tiger." Two ANBU appeared in the room silently. I jumped. Naruto and Sasuke were less obvious because of the bodies holding them down from jumping.

"Rat, get Nara Shikaku here now. After, I want Inochi and Morino. Tiger, Bring these two down to T&I, get them prepped for a meeting with Morino. He's gonna see them after he'd done talking with me."

Naruto and Sasuke quickly tossed their hostages on the ground none too gently. Both ANBU nodded and then flashed away. The bodies quickly flashed away.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" The Hokage sounded weary as he asked sensei.

"No." Sensei paused thoughtfully before answered firmly.

I bit my lip, physically holding myself back from speaking. Kakashi sensei would have should have up— would have spoken up—if there was anything to worry about. But I couldn't shake the feeling.

 _His ANBU are gone. This was an opportunity._ I had been thinking about it, and I knew it was going to get laughed at later—I knew that once they brought dad in here he was going to tear apart this letter as not being real. But—

"— _Yes!"_ Sensei turned to look at me surprised, but I ignored him and kept my eyes on the Hokage. "I'm only a genin. I don't have the experience of my dad or your other generals or whatever. But this scroll—its real. Or at least, I'm certain we need to treat it as real. And I know that my dad wont believe it. That the info is too good to be true—that we would find something like this. But I'm telling you—I can't think of any situation where we find this scroll, just like we did, and its a fake. It just doesn't make sense in context…sir."

I finish a bit lackluster and without any real steam.

The hokage crosses his arms and turns from me to Kakashi. "What do you say Kakashi?"

Sensei looked at me again, then back to the hokage. "I think it's a real threat, but I defer to the experience of your advisors. I can only bring back the information that I discover." He answers slowly.

Already sensei is back to his normal self now that he had delivered the message. His shoulders are slumped and his face is more relaxed. His gaze has lost the tense edge that has been present the last few days. I notice that it has passed instead to the Hokage's eyes.

The Hokage nods again thoughtfully and then holds out a hand. Sensei turns to me and I stare at it dumbly before remembering that I'm holding the scroll. I blush and reach into my thigh pouch, pulling out the orders. They are dirty now. Slightly muddied and a little bloodstained, which is probably from my hands holding it this morning. But the characters are readable.

The Hokage keeps his face expressionless as he goes over it. It doesn't take that long to read it, so he clearly reads it multiple times in the five minutes it takes for my dad to arrive in the office. He walks into the room like it was our living room, clearly comfortable and not at attention like my team had jumped to. Dad notices us and shoots me a look, fond exasperation that says ' welcome back' and 'what did you do' all in one look. Uncle Inochi and Morino-san arrive a minute or two after him. Still the Hokage stays quiet, examining the scroll. Finally he speaks up.

"I hold in my hands orders from the Kazekage for a small subunit or chunin to meet with an existing and larger force supplanted within the Land of Fire. They are supposedly hidden within our borders as an invasive group. The infiltration group is apparently stationed near the Valley of the End, circling away from where Suna's geographic location and further from where most of our patrols run." The Hokage's voice is calm as he speaks.

I've already read the scroll. I don't react. Naruto twists at hearing it put in terms like that—I know he doesn't understand all the words but he knows enough to understand that it sounds bad. Sasuke looks like he's fighting a grimace. Its his natural look so I'm not sure if he even listened to the Hokage speak. I can't see Sensei from where I'm standing; somehow sensei ended up standing behind us.

It doesn't matter. The interesting people are the older ninja who just entered the room. Dad tilts his head at the Hokage curiously, then tilts his head back his eyes closing and a quick frown flitting across his face.

Uncle Inochi seems the most thrown, his face troubled, his eyes flicking between us and the Hokage.

Morino just smiles and cracks his neck.

Theres is hardly a pause before the questions begin.

"How credible is the information?" Inoichi opens with.

The Hokage frowns. "Kakashi?"

"Found on the subunit of chunin sneaking into fire country. No guarantee its good intel, Just stumbled upon them while on a training trip with my team." Sensei's voice is steady.

Bizarrely, the emotionless voice sensei takes reminds me of the innumerable lessons I have completed with my dad, doing practice scenarios and case studies of past decisions he had made. I glanced at dad and his lip twitched even though his eyes were closed, making me feel better for the comparison.

"Any identifying markers, insignias, clothing—"

"Nothing." Sensei cut off Morino before he could get going. "Just the letter. I brought two of them back. The leaders, so that you could interrogate them. We met another group on the way back in; same deal with clothing so we eliminated them. No need for more prisoners then we could carry."

"So its settled then." Morino shrugged. "We'll interrogate them; if they say its true, then we know its true."

"They could lie." Inoichi frowned at him. "They could say that its not true and there is no attack."

"Or they could lie and say that there is an attack and they are from the sand village." My dad finally choses to speak up. "Just because the information matches up to what we want to hear doesn't mean its right. This isn't right. Suna isn't in a position to launch an invasion right now. This could be used to weaken our relations with Suna."

Inoichi nods his head in agreement. "Besides interrogation takes time. Without a willing participant, getting valid information could take weeks, if not months, as well as multiple people to interrogate. If we have people camping out in Fire Country, we don't have _weeks._ "

"So we send a scout out." The Hokage played the devils advocate. "Examine out the canyon. See if there really is an invasion force waiting there? What is the downfall?"

"Giving up the game." Morino frowned, shaking his head respectfully at the Hokage. "No one I've interviewed has mentioned anything like this—but if they were too low, or if this is a newer plan, then they wouldn't know about it. We can send someone to find out. Just to be sure."

Dad shook his head. "No, you're not getting Ibiki. This isn't just about the intel not matching; I'm not saying that you've had a few bad interrogations Morino— I'm saying nothing about this adds up. Hokage-sama" Dad turned to the stoic man who has barely spoken up.

I wondered why no one had said anything about the three genin who just stood here openmouthed watching everything, but said nothing to draw attention to ourselves.

"Hokage-sama—" dad continued, and I watched him shift from my dad, lovable shogi champ, to the Konoha Jonin Commander. "Suna doesn't have the money to pull off an invasion. We've been pulling missions from them for months. Years even. And even if they did, this is diplomatic suicide. They will never recover from an attack on foreign diplomats. No one will hire a village of ninja who brazenly attacks them—besides the fact that the Kazekages own children are here in the village—all three of them. Surely he would've held back at least one of them. Nothing about this makes sense. An invasion is the last thing that would be profitable to Suna. This is a set up by another village."

He paused then frowned at the scroll. The hokage handed it over to him and dad stopped to read it. "I think…" He paused again, clearly re-reading it. "I think that this is a trick from another village. Some kind of ploy to split our alliance with Suna. Relationships have already been tense for months now. This will only further soil them. Either the scroll is _not_ real and Suna is being laid to blame, in which case our ties to them become even frostier over words. OR, another village is planning some kind of attack and wants Suna to take the blame."

Dad pauses, his fingers tapping out a pattern on his upper thighs before he speaks again. Morino and Inochi are eying him respectfully, while the Hokage is remaining stoic. "We can take precautions. But if we send a few teams—because we cant send a single team to deal with a potential invasion force— to check out the Valley of the End, we leave the village unprotected from general unrest. We let the village seem unprotected and overall its a great weakening of our overall defense. Overall we can take internal protections up a great deal, but I think worrying about an actual invasion is overkill on an already overworked shonobi force. Especially is this a planned attack by another village, trying to blame Suna. Weakening our villages defense is the _last_ thing to do right now. "

"Inoichi? Morino? How do you feel about this proclamation?" The hokage looked curiously at the other two. They stood up straight.

"I agree. None of my intel indicates anything otherwise. Something of this nature would take a while to plan. I would've caught wind of it eventually by means of someone. To have not heard anything in regards to Suna means that this is probably another village trying to sour our relationship." Inochi is firm in his announcement.

Morino nodded in agreement, but more slowly. " I agree, but more because of the logic of it. I can see the intel shifting. I deal with interrogation. Sometimes people manage to hold it in out of loyalty to their village. Sometimes I just get people that don't know nuttin'." he grins at the Hokage but I have a feeling the line is for our sake. "But the logic is solid. Suna _can't_ afford to piss off a major village. They're barely holding on to a major village status themselves. "

There was silence and the three men looked at the Hokage expectantly. He quiet, and something about felt expectant. I could see the confusion blooming on the older mens faces and I realized and I realized he was waiting for me. I didn't say anything, feeling the moment close. If I said nothing, if I let the moment pass, it meant I was convinced that these three men were right and the scroll was right. It meant that the Hokage had let Team 7 stay here to be convinced about the scrolls authenticity. And if I didn't speak up, the Hokage had no need to voice any other opinion.

I sighed. This was so bothersome. I coughed, drawing everyones attention to me. "I think the scroll is real. And even though it makes absolutely no sense, I think that sand is planning an invasion on our village."

The Hokage maintained the grandfatherly look, but seemed to grow more intimidating. "Please explain: I have some excellent sources telling me to not trust this intel. Why should I listen to a genin?"

I looked at him, incredulous that he was going to make me argue alone, with no backing. "Because it makes sense!" I whined.

Dad let out the most annoyed sigh in the world, obviously getting ready for the circular logic I was about to engage in. Inoichi looked at me curiously and Morino just smiled extra creepily.

I was tired, covered in dried blood, sweat, and felt like shit. I matched his grin, tugging my teammates forward. "We were just on a training retreat." I announced to the room at large.

After a slight pause, I looked at the Hokage. "How many people knew where we were, sir? Two? Three, tops?" Not waiting for his answer I trudged on. I turned back to my dad. HIs sharp eyes met mine, no longer closed or eying the ceiling.

I imagined this was one of our practice case studies. I ignored how much the Hokage intimidated me, or how weird it was to be profiling a situation outlaid in front of my teammates. I focused on my dad and ignored everyone else. I pointed out the facts. The weird bits that were making me have a 'gut feeling' in the first place. I used every bit of knowledge that been bouncing around my head the whole run back to Konoha.

"No one knew where we were. No Konoha teams were in the area. In the weeks we were out there, we ran across _no body._ No other teams. No enemy teams. No civilians or towns. A horrible place to lay a trap like this. It would take forever for a Konoha team to find out that Sand is setting up an invasion this way. On top of that—anyone who did find out would immediately discount the information. The orders for an A rank mission still being on the body? No destroyed? Even though the team was careful enough to make sure they were wearing no insignias, no village markers, no identification?" I paused thoughtfully. "Its off. It would throw anyone off. Its a tell."

"But all together? For all of that to happen together? Theres no chance that such a thing could be coincidence. Or if it is, it was the damn luckiest one on earth. Or, we have an even bigger problem and the Hokage is a double agent for Iwa." I try for some levity. Dad lets out a slight snort, but still keeps his eye on me seriously.

"Why attack a village when you have no money? Why now?" Dad asks me and I look at him, grateful that he is treating this like a training session as well. I close my eyes thoughtfully for a moment before popping them open again, having already considered the different aspects earlier.

"It's symbolic. It's not about 'winning'. Its about a show of power. About hurting the village and getting back at you and breaking your spirit. Showing every other village that they not safe even in their homes, even when they have the 'protection' of diplomats in their borders. Its a last ditch effort. They know that they won't get missions from diplomats anymore, but they're hoping that we won't either because we cant protect them. Which means that Konoha is 'weaker'. And that means that Sand and Konoha can go back to fighting over the scraps of missions."

As I verbalize my thoughts I realize that I've finally pieced together my gut feeling. This is a terrorist attack. An ideological attack— mental warfare on Sands behalf. There is still probably more we're missing. But I'm able to start building a profile now.

"A symbolic attack isn't something that we can predict." Dad mumbled thoughtfully. "But it doesn't explain the target. Or how we didn't hear any kind of planning about it. Something like this requires a large scale of information being passed along. How did we hear _nothing?"_

"The Chunin exams." I said immediately. The thought popped into my head. Everyone in the room is looking at me. I flush embarrassed. "As a target, I mean."

"Look, I could be completely wrong and off the chain about the scroll. And then I can be embarrassed about this whole thing. But if I'm not, then this whole thing is an ideological warfare. And that means this is about the _spectacle._ Which means its not going to be a sneak attack. Its going to be something big and explosive. Its going to be something that everyone can see. If theres going to be an invasion, then its going to happen at the Chunin Exams. We probably didn't hear about it because its so suciadal that Suna's higher command didn't even inform its general shinobi populace until the last possible moment—they knew how crazy it was and how likely it was to fail, so no reason to have the info leak on a plan bound to fail. "

The room is quiet, and I realize that Inochi and Morino are speaking in hushed voices behind dad.

"Okay." Dad said. Everyone including the other two ninja fall silent. The Hokage, looks to my father.

"You believe the situation?"

"It's a possibility. And planning for it is within my ability without affecting the villages defenses, so its worth taking care of incase the possibility turns into a reality." Dad is back in his Jonin commander mode, and the Hokage nods at his answer.

I blinked. And swayed. Naruto put a hand on my back. I was already forgotten. Dad continues speaking, giving the Hokage an idea of what can be done for the village.

"I can work with one day. Planning for a possible invasion on the day of the exams is only slightly different from overall village defense. I'll set up a patrol pattern of ninja on the day of the exams as well as the hours before and directly after. I'll also set perimeters on the guest accommodations of the VIP's in the village. Most ninja won't get their requested day's off to watch the exams, which will annoy them, but if there is an invasion, will make sense to them after the fact. If there isn't, then tough shit. We can also clear the paths to the shelters for civilians now. Lets make sure that they vendors in the roads are all within regulation so that nothing blocks fleeing civilans. And lets also make sure that this is only on a need to know basis. S Rank secret. The less people that know the less that can give it away. Ill work on more details."

"You're cleared to do whatever you feel is necessary. You have my authority." The Hokage granted. Dad nodded. I feel my eyes go wide. "Morino, Inoichi, your prisoners have been prepared and are waiting in T&I. Let me know if you get any information. Doubtful though it may be that you will find anything in the limited time… Better to try and not succeed then the reverse. Team 7…The issue of your training trip is still not solved."

We all blinked cluelessly. Sensei sighed. "We took the trip for a reason, remember?"

I tried to recall, I really did. Complete blank.

"OH!" Naruto was the first to get it. "The grass ninja-datebayo!" I nodded my head in agreement. The snake sannin. Forgot about him.

"Being that you as a team are still targeted—" Naruto and I looked at Sasuke with raised eyebrows and he turned his head away annoyed. "—your wandering around the village would not be ideal."

"Oji-chan, Kaka-sensei makes us wake up really early to train. I was glad to be back in the village. Are you saying we need to leave again?!" Naruto wasn't shouting in my ear. We'd nearly broken that habit from being so silent in the woods. But he was being very excited in my ear and that was pretty annoying too. So I decided to throw in one of my brilliant plans.

"Hokage-sama, if I may, Naruto is more then welcome to stay over my home. The Nara compound is safe enough, especially once my dad gets home." I turned my head to my dad, who nodded his head in agreement, although I wasn't sure if it was to Naruto staying over or to the compound being safe. Probably both."Kakashi sensei can walk us back over and he can drop Sasuke off with Shisui as well. And if Shisui isn't home then Sasuke is more then welcome to stay over as well. We just spent weeks camping out in the woods together. What's one more night."

The hokage smiled at me. "Thats a very kind offer and solves all our problems. Are you sure you don't mind the imposition?

I grinned back at him wryly. "To be completely honest, I don't care who sleeps where, as long as I get to knock out soon. I'll crash on that couch over there, if its the safest place for me in the village. I just really need to sleep."

Sensei knocked me on the head for saying that, although I'm not sure if its because it was considered rude or because he also laughed.


	21. Chapter 21

Getting to sleep in my own bed after weeks on the road was the best feeling in the world. Sure, there was the anxious pit in my stomach from the looming and imminent doom that was hanging over the village, but at the moment there was nothing I could do about that so I just let myself relish in my bed when I woke up the next morning.

It truly was the next morning, I noted, seeing the early predawn grey sky outside of my window. We'd gotten back to the village a little after midday yesterday and I while I'd been tired, I hadn't expected to sleep till dawn the next day. I stretched in bed, still languishing in the feeling of being in my own bed.

"You look like a cat." Sasuke called up from the floor. He and Naruto had dragged futons out of storage at my direction and were camped out on my bedroom floor.

I grunted and tossed my pillow at him, rolling myself out of my bed and landing on my feet with a soft thump. "Alright, I'm done sleeping. Let's see if anyone's home now."

When we had gotten home yesterday, no one was in the house. Shika was training, I assumed, this close to the tournament. Mom was probably out running errands or meeting with some of her friends. Dad hadn't followed us home, so I hadn't expected to see him. I nudged Naruto awake with my foot. His mouth was open and it looked like he should have been snoring but he was completely silent. You could call sensei's training bizarre but you had to acknowledge that it was effective. Naruto would never give us away on a mission from snoring.

I shoved him again harder before giving up and letting Sasuke take charge of waking him up. I grabbed some clothes from my closet, internally holding back tears at the feeling of NEW clothing. Compared to what was left of the rags I brought with me on that training trip, I was glad to finally get to switch into nicer clothing.

"I'm taking a shower." I announced. It was my second shower, but now that I wasn't so tired, I still felt dirty from all the dirt—and blood—on the road. I took my time and by the time I was out Naruto were fully awake, sitting up on his futon and chatting excitedly at a still bleary eyed Uchiha.

Seeing a chance at escape, Sasuke spoke up quickly. "I'm going to shower next." He stood up and grabbed his bag, which had been dumped carelessly on the floor in his haste to sleep the day before.

"Do you want to borrow some of my brother's clothes?" I asked, realizing that they deserved the feeling of comfort that I'd just enjoyed.

"That would be AWESOME." Naruto said instantly, and clearly more awake then the rest of us. Sasuke paused thoughtfully before he nodded in agreement as well. I moved from standing at my doorway to direct Sasuke to the shower. I stopped in Shika's room across the hall and was unsurprised to find it empty. He had either left early from practicing the day before, or more likely, hadn't made it home the night before. I snagged two sets of Shikamaru's clothes and tossed them both to Sasuke who mumbled apprecitvly.

"Just leave the other set in the room for Naruto." I ordered him, making my way back down the hall. I tuck my head in my room on my way downstairs to let Naruto know I was going to go eat breakfast. He was welcome to either stay upstairs and wait to shower, or eat beforehand.

I went to go down the stairs before thoughtfully walking back into my room and grabbing my own pack, on the floor next to where Sasuke's had been. Mine was just dirty, but Naruto's had dried bloodstains on his from his cargo the day before. I wrinkled my nose at dried stain but grabbed his bag as well, bringing them both downstairs with me. Making a slight detour to the kitchen, I stopped and dropped both bags outside my front door on the wraparound porch. Leaving the door open, I made my way into the kitchen.

I was disappointed to be greeted by an empty kitchen and a still warm stove top and kettle. We'd just missed mom. Glancing at the clock, I'd guess by a half an hour or so. I refilled the kettle with more water, setting up some cups for tea. I also gathered some food for breakfast. Nothing elaborate but miles away from field rations or the wild animals we'd been feasting on. Naruto and Sasuke both stumbled downstairs as I was setting the table.

I gestured for them to sit and they complied, mumbling thank yous. We all stayed quiet as we started eating, but after a lull in eating, Naruto spoke up.

He sounded ridiculously cheerful considering how upset and off kilter he'd looked the day before. "So what are the plans for today?"

I turned to Sasuke stumped. "I hadn't expected to wake up with no one here." I said slowly. Sasuke looked just as clueless as me. "So I guess we just stay in the compound until we get orders to do something else."

Naruto didn't look satisfied with that answer. "That's booooring." He whined. I had to agree. I was still sore from the intense sprint we'd made back to the village but I felt restless. I was used to waking at dawn and immediately jumping into some ridiculous routine, or spar, or other form of training that Kakashi sensei had cooked up for us.

I shrugged. "We can stretch everything out today, stay limber. I also wasn't to replace my weapons from training—everything is dull or broken. We could eat up a lot of the daylight on just that while we wait for more information." Neither of them seemed to have anything to say to that, which I assumed meant that they agreed.

Once we'd finished eating in a comfortable silence, we'd washed the dishes with minimal complaints, even from me. Sasuke went upstairs while Naruto joined me on the porch, this time grabbing his own bag. I led him around to the back of the house, facing the woods and sat with one leg hanging off the porch, the other tucked neatly under me.

Not seeing a reason to delay, I opened my pack and dumped its contents out. Naruto copied me a few feet away. I started sorting through the pile. Many of the things in my pack had gone untouched. I pushed them to the side—these were things that had just taken up space and I wouldn't bother packing them on a mission again. They just made my pack heavier and served no purpose.

I hesitated over a pair of armguards. They hadn't been used at all on the mission which meant I should just toss them in the not to bring category, but they were undeniably useful if not well worn. I sighed, then put the guards in the middle in the meantime, not sure of which pile it would fall in.

As I was deliberating over a another object, Sasuke interjected, having arrived with his own bag. "I thought we were stretching first?"

"We were waiting for you Teme." Naruto rolled his eyes. I copied the motion adding my own "Duh!" for effect.

Dropping his bag on the other side of Naruto, Sasuke hopped off the porch and onto the grass. We copied him, then each broke off into our own stretches. We had all developed our own routine during the mission—Sasuke was the most similar to the academy katas we'd all learned. Naruto's and my own diverged significantly from the academy standard. Naruto was more powerful in his motions; each movement looked grounded and he kept his center of gravity low, which had him balancing in the oddest stances.

I started the Hatake set of Katas that sensei had begun me own during the training trip. I moved slowly, feeling each movement in my muscles, tense as they were. Strangely enough, I felt like Naruto's stretches reminded me most of actual martial arts while my own routine felt a little like…dancing.

I sped up while Naruto and Sasuke also picked up their paces. Although I wasn't holding my wakizashi, I swung out my hand as if I was holding it. I threw a punch, only to subtly change my stance at the last minute and change the feigned punch to an elbow strike.

By the end of the hour, the three of us had spread out throughout the grass and were all going through our second or third repetition of the katas. We were all at near full speed by now and I felt limber enough to start cooling down—the goal of today was to rest. If there was to be an attack, I didn't want to still be recovering from the run back to the village OR from an overly enthusiast training session.

I signed for my teammates to do the same and we all slowed the stretches until we were sitting on the floor in a tighter circle then we'd been just minutes before. Pausing for a moment to catch our breaths, we all grinned at each other, feeling good now that our muscles weren't full of lactic acid.

"Time to sort our weapons now?" Naruto asked bouncing up before either of us had a chance to answer.

I groaned, laying back on the grass and looking up at the beautiful nearly clear blue sky above us. "Or we could not and just watch the clouds instead." I offered.

"NO WAY Kage-chan!" Naruto cried out excitedly, grabbing on of my arms and dragging me up. I slouched as I stood but couldn't hold back my own grin.

"Fine, responsibility calls our names then." Naruto grinned at my answer, reaching out to drag Sasuke up. His stamina was unreal.

I slumped back over to the porch, feigning how tired I was. I really did feel good at the moment. I climbed back on the seating, orienting myself the same as I had before, one foot hanging off. Sasuke sat much more properly in a seiza, while Naruto crossed his legs and plopped on the floor.

I talked out loud more for their benefit then my own. "I think I packed too much excess stuff on this trip. I'm trying to keep a ready-made emergency pack for missions and I want to repack all the things I'm going to need…I think I can keep out the unnecessary stuff this time." I said wrinkling my nose as I held up a fishing rod that broke off into three pieces for easier storage.

Naruto perked up. "That's so cool though!"

I shrugged, handing it to him. "Yours then. Sensei showed us how to fish with ninja wire a lure so I don't see the point in this extra stuff taking up room."

Naruto eagerly grabbed it, stuffing it into his own pack. Sasuke frowned at him. "Unpack everything first dobe. Thenyou can put back in the essentials. "

I nodded in agreement with Sasuke. "I'm making piles." I pointed out to the other two. Sasuke gave it a perfunctory nod, pouring out his own pack. We worked in silence, only speaking up to ask the others their opinion on the worth of an object for missions. Finally, I felt like my pack was good with supplies-although I'd need to restock on ration bars, medicines, and health supplies sometime in the future.

I sat waiting for my Sasuke. Naruto was already finished because the two of us had started slightly before him. Once we were all caught up and on the same page, we all looked at the massive piles each of us had created of 'useless' items.

Mine was the smallest. Although I didn't needall of them in the strictest terms and I definitely could and would make a more barebones version of my pack for when it was required…everything in my pack currently made my life easier and wasn't heavy enough for me to really complain about. For a day to day mission, it was good enough to cater to most missions I would be assigned.

Sasuke and Naruto each had bigger piles of 'stuff' left out of their packs. Truly some of it looked useless. Naruto had two can openers in his pile which was pretty useless because we didn't use cans on missions. Sasuke also had some questionable items in his pack which he'd had on him the entire last mission.

"You brought a pair of windmill shuriken?" I looked at him dumbfounded.

"We used them on the Wave mission." He defended. I eyed him skeptically but turned back to his pile in acquiesce.

"I would leave the ninja wire in your pack. If you don't want to keep it, I will; we use ninja wire on EVERYTHING." I suggested.

Sasuke shrugged. "I have two more rolls, one flammable and one non flammable already packed." I grinned then made a 'gimme' motion.

"Mine then!" I said happily. He rolled his eyes but tossed me the brand new roll with a small smile. We truly did use the ninja wire on everything from fighting to cooking to fishing and hanging clothes to dry. Multipurpose and reusable, Naruto probably needed to add some to his own pack.

Although with all the traps and pranks he set up, he probably already had a roll in there.

Each of us eyed our own piles again before Naruto groaned in annoyance. Flopping backwards on the floor he cursed aloud. "Shit. WE should've unpacked at home. How am I going to get all this-" He gestured to the pile of stuff, "-back to my place?"

I chuckled. "I can lend you bags or something. Don't stress it." He grumbled some more before popping back up.

"Weapons now?" Sasuke suggested. We each nodded and grabbed our whetstones and knife sharpeners. Sitting back to lean against one of the wooden beams that held up the porch, I fell into a familiar routine of sharpening weapons. I'd been doing this since the academy under dad's watchful eye for his own gear and later for my own set when we'd started throwing practice.

That's how sensei came back to find us, sharpening knives or testing to see if they were still good. Sasuke banged his on rocks and if they didn't chip or break, continued to sharpen them. Naruto sharpened each one carefully regardless of the state of the blade. I aimed all of mine at the rock in the lawn. Some shattered. Others chipped. I would pick up the remaining ones later to be honed.

"You're such cute little genin." Sensei remarked, hands in his pockets as he strolled over to us. None of us paused in our tasks, just mumbled out a greeting and continued our work. Sensei sat on the porch as well, pulling out his book to read while we worked.

I held out my lucky kunai, holding it at eye level an arm's length away and surveying it critically. It looked like I would need a new one. To be sure, I gave a flick of my wrist and shot it at the rock. It shattered on impact and I frowned sadly. Kunai and shuriken weren't meant to last. Sure, if you took good care of them—oiled them, kept them away from water and kept them sharp—they would last a few weeks or even months. But the force put on them meant that they would eventually become structurally unsound from a couple of hits. I didn't want to throw a weapon like that in battle and have an enemy block it. That would mean shrapnel flying back at my face.

Sasuke was too meticulous about his weapons and his aim to keep any that were damaged. One chipped shuriken wouldn't be aimed as well as a well-cared for one. Naruto on the other hand usually used his weapons for traps—shrapnel and surprise angles would suit him so it made sense he would keep all his weapons. With that thought, I asked him if he wanted my chipped ones. He eagerly accepted, and nodded again when Sasuke offered his own up as well.

I sorted through my kunai before finding one that I liked the grip of. I pulled a polishing cloth and some alkaline polishing oil out of my pack. I wanted to make this my new 'lucky' kunai. Not so much for attacked but more for peripheral vision. I'd need a mirror like polish on it for better visibility.

We sat in silence for most of the morning this way. The only sound the familiar grinding of metal and the turning of sensei's pages on his book. When the sun was about midday, sensei finally stopped us.

"Time to get back at it team." He announced, standing and stretching his hands overhead. He was tall enough that his wrists almost hit the ceiling of the porch.

We all groaned but obligingly put our things away. I shoved my kunai, shuriken, and sharpeners into their respective pouches, then strapped them onto their appropriate spots. Two went on my waist and the last one wrapped around my upper thigh. I also stood, strapped my wakizashi horizontally along my lower back with the handle closer to my right hand.

On sensei's orders, I was to change up which side I strapped it to randomly. I also was to wear it everywhere to get used to the feeling of always having it on hand.

I patted myself down, dusting dirt off and making sure I had everything I needed on me. Naruto and Sasuke also looked likewise ready. We all turned to Kakashi. He nodded at us approvingly.

"We're going to do a quick survey of the village- the team will be patrolling tomorrow during the exam and I want you guys to know what it will be like without me there."

That had each of us perking up, looking at him more seriously. "We wont get to watch the tournament?" I questioned. It wasn't entirely unexpected but it was a disappointment. I had been planning on watching Shikamaru.

Naruto looked similarly bummed, and while Sasuke didn't show it as much as us, I could read the shared disappointment. Sensei shook his head.

"Sadly, no. It would be a great training tool- to see how other ninja your age fight. But the village has other needs including patrols during that time."

We all nodded in agreement. Sensei looked us all over then clapped his hands together. "Ready then? Let's race to the academy rooftop. On your mark. Get set…go!"

He shunshinned away but none of wasted any time. We each launched ourselves towards the academy.

I had the advantage here, being the quickest and the most familiar with the route, but Naruto was following me closely. Sasuke had taken the more familiar route, leaving the compound through the main gate and down the road.

I took the more direct route, cutting through treetop and hopping the fence that stood between the Nara woods and the rest of the village with Naruto shadowing me as close as he could.

Hopping building to building once we reached the village proper was taking time. I mentally calculated the distance between me and the roof 2 buildings down, then tried to approximate the right amount of chakra. I gave a slight whoop as a skipped one of the buildings as planned and furthered the gap between myself and Naruto. Trying to keep it going took a little more mental planning and careful chakra control but I ended up skipping and landing on every other building instead.

Landing slightly out of breath on the academy rooftop, I walked the last few steps over to sensei, who stood unruffled with his book back out. Naruto joined me just moments later followed up by a disgruntled looking Sasuke.

"Sensei, when are we going to learn the poof thing you do?" Naruto asked. Sasuke and I bother joined Naruto in his baleful yet hopeful look towards sensei. Being able to shunshin would be you typically didn't see genin with that skillset. And few used it in battle like Sensei or Shisui. Most just used it as a quicker transportation technique.

He stood quietly thinking about it before shrugging. "Mahhhh, later." We all groaned. Gesturing for us to sit, we all listened to his nonverbal instruction and popped onto the benches. It was strangely reminiscent of our first meeting as a team. Sensei put his book away and eyed us strangely, before eye smiling at us.

"It hasn't been too long since you've been out of the academy. You're all still fairly new at being ninja. So I thought it would be nice to get you an area you were familiar with for patrol." He took on a serious note as he began lecturing us. "The academy is one of the most vulnerable areas in the village. You should remember how many drills you had considering how recently you graduated."

All of us nodded in agreement. We'd done evacuation drills, lock down drills, fire drills, poison drills. Tons of different practices with different operating procedures for each.

"Tomorrow" he continued "You will show up here before sunrise, prepared to patrol. But your patrol will consist of this 4 block radius" he pointed out the streets to us " and the academy. And the academy is the priority. With so many dignitaries in the stands of the arena, many ninja will be required to show face. But the future of the village is right here." He said the last part firmly and looked at us seriously. "So you will all be here ready to help the academy teachers and students with any disruptions they may face tomorrow."

He didn't put any emphasis on 'disruptions'. Nothing in his speech referenced a possible attack on the village. But he made eye contact with me on the last few words and I knew he was preparing for the worst to happen in the village. We watched him silently and he observed us back for a few moments before he smiled again.

"Alright, ready for a practice run on how to patrol? The key is to not be noticed by anyone, unless they're looking for you. Civilians want to feel safe, but not under surveillance. It's a fine line…" He said as began showing us how he wanted us to patrol the next day.

* * *

When we made it back to my house, the front door was open and I could hear the sounds of someone inside. We all grabbed our stuff from the floor around the back porch and made our way back to the front and in the open door.

"Hi mom!" I called, leading team 7 up the stairs. I could sense it was mom and a few other people in the kitchen including Shikamaru. "We'll be right down!"

I jogged up the stairs, Naruto and Sasuke right on my heels, as I heard Ino shout out, "IS THAT KAGE-CHAN? Finally!"

Dumping my pack and armful of miscellaneous supplies on my bed, Naruto and Sasuke looked around, then dropped their stuff on their futons. I wrinkled my nose at them.

" We really need to wash our packs off before we put them that close ot our pillows." Sasuke shrugged but Naruto grimaced and gently nudged his pack off his futon with his foot. It took several light kicks and an increasingly animated Naruto.

Because I was sniggering at Naruto's antics, Sasuke led the way downstairs.

The kitchen was full, and Ino stood immediately to give hugs out. Sasuke declined to her disappointment, but I eagerly reciprocated the hug, before leaning down and giving a hug to Shikamaru, who'd remained seated. I gave a slight wave to their sensei, Asuma, who sat at one end of the table with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Choji also got a hug and mom gave an enthusiastic hug to each of us.

"Did you just get back?" Ino demanded, looking us over critically.

"Obviously not." Shika drawled. Choji nodded in thoughtful agreement.

"They're wearing Shikamaru's cloths." He pointed out helpfully to his female teammate. She frowned at us thoughtfully.

"Why not just go home and get dressed there. Surely there was nothing that urgent." She paused to thank my mom for the soup that she'd just placed in front of her, then continued, "When did you get back then?"

Mom answered as she was putting Asuma sensei's dinner in front of him. "They arrived back sometime yesterday. You all looked so tired, I didn't bother waking you for dinner."

I grinner at her as she placed my own dinner in front of me. "Thanks mom. I think sleep was more the priority at that point."

"But why didn't you two go home?" Ino asked incessantly.

I molded my face to a serious one and answered as if the whole table had asked. "Well you see, after spending so much time on the road together, I've decided that it would be best for me to cohabitate with the team for the time being. Considering how close we've grown, it seemed like the logical next step." I took a spoon of soup and maintained the serious face.

The room was dead quiet for a moment before Naruto and Shikamaru burst out laughing. Sasuke dropped his head into his hands in despair and Ino frowned at me. "That's not funny." She said as everyone around her laughed.

I chuckled. "Clearly it's at least kind of funny if everyone is laughing." I pointed out, continuing to eat my soup.

She grumpily tossed her hair over her shoulder as Choji started telling us about how their training was going. We listened in eagerly, and eventually Ino got over her annoyance enough to jump in and catch us up on the missing gossip as well.

"It's going to be a tough tournament." Ino admitted. "I think the only one with a definite chance is that Hyuga genin." I frowned thinking back to the exams and pulling up an image of his face. It also reminded me to let my brother know.

"We won't be able to watch the tournament live." I said regretfully. Ino gasped and Choji looked slightly betrayed.

"It's not our fault." I defended myself. "Team 7 got placed on patrol duty. Probably because we were out of village for so long, they're relieving the other teams by throwing a fresh team out there."

Asuma sensei spoke up. "It makes sense. The tournament is a big deal for the village and if we can maintain a good presence, that will make Konoha look better. More high profile ninjas will probably be shifted inside the stadium. Which means more patrols outside in the village to fill the gaps."

I nodded in agreement. Shikamaru spoke up, "It doesn't really matter anyway. We can tell you all about it later."

I grinned thankfully at his easy acceptance and forgiveness.

Once dinner was over, we all helped with the dishes except Shikamaru and Asuma sensei who went outside to go play a game of shogi. We'd just finished cleaning up when Asuma came back into the kitchen.

"He wants to play someone different considering the past 2 months have been the same people." Asuma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Typically, it's not this long a wait between the prelims and the final exam, but with all the attacks and stuff, they've really been dragging it out." He over explained for my benefit.

I nodded and turned to mom, shrugging as I put down the drying cloth for the dishes. She waved me off to go play a game of Shogi with my brother. Asuma followed me outside, while Naruto and Sasuke kept company with Choji and Ino.

I found my brother sitting outside where he always sat, slumped against the post I had been sharpening my knives on earlier this very same day. I grinned at him savagely. "Ready to lose?" I asked him as I sat down and started setting up the board for a new match.

He grunted. "You wish. I've had so much practice while you were out of the village." We eyed each other speculatively, before I reversed the board, spinning it to face him.

HE raised an eyebrow at me. "You sure." I nodded thoughtfully. By default, Shikamaru normally let others make the first move, but I wanted him to start this match.

Too often, dad had taught us to use Shoji to relax our minds and sharpen our wits. I wanted to be ready for tomorrow, when I would be waiting for some kind of an attack. I watched my brother rather than the board. He seemed stumped. His sensei watched us carefully. I couldn't read his face, and he'd started smoking. I didn't like the smell so I didn't bother turning towards him.

Finally, Shikamaru made his first move, chuckling. "I knew it was a good idea to grab you. The whole lead up to this exam and I can count on one hand the amount of games where I've made the first move."

I laughed too, quickly responding to his opening move. "In the match, I really don't think you're going to make the first move. You're much more reactive then you are action oriented. So, it makes sense under those thoughts."

Shika paused thoughtfully before making his next move. "So what are you expecting that you wanted to 'react'." He asked thoughtfully. He didn't seem to expect an answer. "After all, you've always been the more explosive one of us."

I hmm'ed an agreement and then responded to his move.

We played in silence and swiftly, both of reacting to the moves with very little pause before sliding our pieces. Sometimes his sensei would lean in and look at the board but neither of us paused. It was turning out to be a quick game, when I paused eyeing the board.

I turned my head while I looked at it.

Shika sounded smug. "You lose in 4 moves."

I kept watching the board and tilted my head to the other side, still eying it thoughtfully. "No I don't." I moved a piece. "I lose in 3 moves. If-" I stressed the word, "IFyou manage to capture my king by then."

He frowned at the move I'd made but then leaned back thoughtfully. He carefully folded his hands into the pose he always made when he was thinking hard.

"You're sacrificing a lot of pieces. It's a pyrrhic victory."

"And yet, somehow, still a victory." I announced. My eyes were still on the board and not on him. "When is a victory not a victory?" I asked quietly.

Shikamaru quickly made his move, then before waiting moved my piece in the final 3 steps of the match. I grinned softly at the bpard as he answered. "When the price is too high," He said, quoting dad, "Then you can't say you've gained anything at all."

I helped him put away the pieces. "Thank you." I said seriously. "I needed to clear my head."

"Me too." He said mournfully. I sniggered and ruffled his hair. "You'll do fine. Just don't be stupid and save plenty of chakra for later rounds. That's what always held you back in the academy as well." I politely excused myself and let Asuma-sensei take my spot. I wanted to get a good nights sleep before the tournament tomorrow.

* * *

Happy April Fools day! Thanks for waiting on me forever. I have rewritten this chapter so many times you cant even believe it. I appreciate every single follower, reviewer and reader who continue to push me towards finishing this chapter. especially Yuma, who left the most thoughtful review/critique/comment I've seen in a while. Thank you everyone and look out for next chapter- should be coming sometime this week, I just keep adding to it.


	22. Chapter 22

Sleep was hard to come by and like clockwork, all of us woke just before sunrise. The effects of our training mission with Kakashi sensei seemed long lasting in that we might never get to sleep in past sunrise again.

All of us quickly got ready- I could hear Shikamaru in his room also preparing, although for a different reason. I wanted to give Shika a heads up- to warn him that his biggest trial today might not be this stupid test, especially considering if I was right about an attack he would be in the center of it all. And I was worried about my brother; I hadn't seen him properly in weeks and I now I was going to miss his chunin exams without even giving him a heads up about a potential invading army. I was sure that dad would've managed to give him some kind of heads up if he were able.

That didn't help the guilty pit that was in my stomach.

Once we were all prepared, we slipped downstairs and grabbed some breakfast. Shika didn't speak at all and he seemed remarkably pale considering our families darker complexion. I made sure to give him a solid hug and a whisper of encouragement. When he pulled away, to go hug mom, I pulled him back for another hug. Sasuke and Naruto both gave him claps on the back and their own well wishes.

And then we were moving in a loose formation towards the academy. Time seemed to have no meaning. Breakfast had dragged on, with all of us anxiously watching the clock, but suddenly it was time for us to take out patrol shifts. It was early still, but sensei had told us yesterday that it was better to be early then to be late- no reason to have overly tired sentries or—even worse—a gap in our patrols. When we arrived, we nodded at the old patrol and took our place opposite them for now, waiting for them to clear out before we spread our own team out.

The morning passed quickly. Dawn broke and the children showed up for the academy mostly on time as the morning bells rang. There were a few stragglers running in late and we watched them as they ran up the road only to hesitate at the doors of the academy, not wanting to be yelled at. Even Sasuke wore a stiff smile watching them, memories of just a few short months ago catching up to him. Eventually the wayward students found the strength to head inside and take the scolding.

By now, the other patrol had gratefully headed out; a few minutes early, I mentally noted. We spread out, like Kakashi sensei had described yesterday, also watching the radius of buildings near the academy, as instructed. It was ridiculously boring watching the same thing for hours on end.

It was also exhausting being tense all the time. And I was still anxiously nervous that I was wrong about an attack; although I would rather be completely wrong about an invasion on the village then right in this instance. Still, in the back of my head I couldn't help but feel I'd be a forever genin if I caused a panic over nothing.

Sasuke and Naruto were equally tense and we took turns trying to break the serious atmosphere with some levity while still maintaining our professional attitudes. Not surprisingly, Naruto was best at it. He was in the middle of recounting a story of a prank on one of the academy teachers that was in the yard, directing the younger students on their katas.

"See, the way he keeps swinging at that kicking post?" Naruto pointed out. The teacher had a habit of hitting one of the 12 posts that lined the yard as he walked up and down the line of students. "So, I hollowed one out—only in the middle anyway—and added a pouch full of feathers—so when he hit it, POOF! Feathers everywhere."

Even this excited, he managed to keep his voice down for the mission. I smiled both because of the story and because of Naruto's growing restraint.

"What was your punishment?" I hadn't been there for this, Naruto had entered the academy before Sasuke or I, although he'd been held back a couple times so he could graduate with his age group.

Before Naruto could answer, he doubled over as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Alarmed, I reached over to see if he was okay before I felt my own reaction hit. Rather than my gut, it was my insides that felt wrong. Down to my very core- my chakra core I realized.

"Guys?" I heard Sasuke's slightly alarmed voice, which pulled me away from the nauseous feeling. I quickly pulled myself away from my chakra, doing my best to hide myself and not listen out for nearby ninja.

Once I'd stopped focusing on any nearby chakra, I felt markedly better. Naruto was standing up straighter. "That was….gross." Naruto said. He looked ill and little unsteady on his feet. I nodded in agreement. I'd already began moving towards the academy students, who hadn't seemed to notice a thing; the academy teachers looked just as clueless. Then again, we were listening and watching for this, for enemies, while these ninja thought they were safe at home. I couldn't completely fault them.

"What was?" Sasuke still seemed worried and slightly exasperated with us. He hopped down from our most recent tree perch and into the academy yard with us as I quickly signed to the academy instructor to evacuate his students.

'B-I-J-O-U' I signed at the end, letting him know which evacuation drill to follow. The teacher's alarm raised and he gave a fearful look at Naruto. I rolled my eyes. "NOW!" I snapped annoyed. Naruto hadn't noticed as he was already making his way inside to start alerting the other teachers. Pausing at the entrance to academy, he made a group of clones then had them all shift into Sasuke. I agreed with the choice sadly—Sasuke had more clout and Naruto had pulled a few too many pranks to be trusted.

"Smart." I said to him, then turned to the real Sasuke. "I felt some chakra, same as Naruto I bet. It was…"

"Gross." Naruto said again, uncharacteristically serious as he rejoined us, his clones still forcing the teachers out of the classrooms and into evacuation mode. It felt like time was in slow motion. I was trying to keep count in my head. All day, I had felt like time was slipping around me and in a fight it would get even worse but this was important. I needed to focus damnit. Two minutes since the first feeling of that chakra? Three?

"Gross." I agreed. "Oppressive. Large. Maleficent. Dirty. Need I go on?"

Sasuke frowned. "That's not good. But you think…"

I looked at Naruto then back at Sasuke. "I don't know if it was an actual Bijou, but we felt that from all the way over here. Don't you think that must be a large source of chakra. Regardless, if we look stupid for evacuating the students, fine. But in this case, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Both my teammates nodded in agreement. Leaving Naruto's clones to it, we moved to the streets we were monitoring. Without causing any alarm, we gestured for all civilians in the street to move towards the nearest shelter. They weren't entitled to the same shelter space as the academy students-which in this case had the most fortified protection in the village. The academy students, and by default the teachers, ended up in sealed tunnels behind the stone mountain face of the villages backdrop. No, the regular civilians were shepherded to often overlooked tunnel entrances in the street. They swiftly climbed down into the sewer like entrances, moving fearfully but quickly. The village practiced these drills fairly often and the villagers knew something was off now, but they were too conditioned to question it.

As I closed one tunnel and moved to the next street to join Sasuke, I glanced down the hole: they were highly fortified and reminded me of the bomb shelters from my past life. Once closed, they were hard to notice, whether by design or by sealing, I knew not. Naruto had clones moving in the blocks around us and I nodded at passing one.

It had only been a few minutes since I'd felt the energy and I was on edge. We were moving swiftly, efficiently, just like we'd been trained in the academy and by sensei to respond to such things. The only thing was…as a team we should more aware of our surroundings in case enemies were lurking. However, I didn't want to open my senses up again to see what was going on, but I wondered if I would have to. Seeming to guess my thought process, Sasuke grabbed my arm.

"Don't. At least not yet. It effectively cripples you. And it's only been a few minutes." I nodded in agreement, but Naruto frowned.

"A lot can happen in a few minutes." He said, gesturing his hands around us. Sure enough, the streets were cleared of any one, every civilian and passing ninja having calmly, if more than a bit nervously, followed procedure and cooperated with our orders. There had only been one other set of ninja, a pair that looked to be patrolling the section of buildings near ours and they had looked as us curiously before moving to the next block over to facilitate evacuations there. Better to copy us then to realize they'd missed a signal to evacuate the village.

Now the streets were quiet, although I could still hear people a few streets over. We stood, tense and nervous, waiting for something, although I wasn't sure what. About to suggest we moved over to the nearest occupied street to start evacuating there, Sasuke spoke up.

"Maybe we over reacted?" He said hesitantly, looking around him.

I frowned, rubbing the back of my head nervously. It was a bad habit I'd picked up from Shisui when I was nervous but I couldn't focus while standing still right now. "I don't think so… I think that was a bijou." I nearly whispered it. I motioned for my teammates to join me on the roof of on of the nearby houses.

Naruto was quiet and I couldn't get a good read with his face turned in the direction of the stadium-and that dark energy- but Sasuke just looking mildly panicked. "Here? In our village?"

I didn't have an answer to that considering Naruto was standing right next to him so I stayed quiet, mentally panicking and outwardly trying to portray a calm demeanor.

"Maybe it's already been handled." Naruto supposed out loud.

It was like he triggered something by asking that question aloud.

Even from as far off as we were, I could hear the explosion in the stadium. I turned my gaze to the distant structure seeing the plumes of smoke rise. I could even see some kind of barrier erupt over one of the seating areas, where a roof could have been. Just seconds after, one of the walls to the village burst open. The stadium was south east of us. I could see ninja pouring out of the structure.

The breach to the walls was to the west. I hopped from the roof I was on up to the one of the higher roofs of the academy, trying to gain a higher vantage point to see better. The breach to the walls was significant—enough for two giant snakes to come through along with a host of ninja.

"Giant snakes. Maybe a summons." I reported, feeling clinically detached from the situation. "They breached the walls so definelty a different chakra than that one from before. A whole host of ninja coming through the west wall with the snales. Also, ninja are now breaking out of the stadium, already in the village."

"What do we do?" Naruto sounded the same kind of panicked yet detached that I felt. Sasuke was quiet but wide eyed surveying the clouds of smoke around the village. I distantly heard screams begun to rise up in a cacophony form the rest of the village. Not all of the villagers had been evacuated than.

I watched as the ninja streamed out of the stadium and in the walls. It seemed strange to me but they stuck to the streets, running through them with a purpose. None seemed inclined to launch themselves over the rooftops like so many Konoha ninja did. They were still far enough away that this blind assessment felt vaguely useful- attack from above, unexpected, home field advantage.

I glanced up at the sky. It was a strange thing to notice at a time like this but the weather was beautiful. Just like yesterday, the sun was shining with hardly a cloud in the sky. The weather felt nice, a warm day with a slight breeze to cool you off. I couldn't imagine a better day for a tournament to take place, I thought distantly. I could feel Naruto vibrating with energy and Sasuke becoming more and more stuff as the explosions and screams from the outer portion of the village grew louder.

"Nothing yet. We have our orders." I said it quietly but firmly. I could feel rather than hear Sasuke's disapproval; he looked like he was aching to jump towards the invaders. I quickly jumped down to the tree overlooking the yard entrance for the academy, signing for them to follow me. We took our posts by the now empty academy. I thought about how and why I wanted to stay here in case anything happened today. Although I could feel both of their eagerness to help living civilians rather than stay and defend and empty building, I knew, I understood the strategic importance of this locaiton. At the very least, we needed to live and give a report on how many attacked here, what type of fighters were they, what kind of information did they have. ALl of this was valuable for T&I even though it was 'just an empty building'.

"We'll defend here." I ordered aloud, trying not to sound defensive. I tried to gain my bearings but I still felt like I was floating just outside of my body as I went through the motions.

I tightened my hi'ate around my arm, making sure it wouldn't fall off in battle. I shifted my stance and pulled out my wakizashi, drawing comfort from the dangerously wicked look of the blade. I held it loosely in front of me, waiting.

I kept my eyes towards the village, wondering where our first enemy would come from—the stadium or the breach in the wall? "Strike to kill. We don't have time or room for prisoners today." I continued thoughtfully, trying to make sure the litany of commands that I was giving Sasuke and Naruto made sense. I tried to keep all my lessons at the forefront of my mind as I repeated our orders- from Dad growing up in strategy, from Kakashi in teamwork and murder, from Shisui in survival and defense. "Always fall back into our combat formations. Use our codewords and trust what our lessons have been all about. It's going to get messy, but we can handle this. When you need backup call for it. Naruto, don't spam too many clones and become too much of a threat. Sasuke, always have an out. If we need to retreat, let me know and I'll call it. This point is supposed to be one of the safest in the village, but I have a feeling that we will be seeing lots of action today. That needs to be reported."

I felt my face grow blank at the thought—traitor. There were already ninja coming in this direction, I could see them. Purposefully aiming for the academy, not the hokage tower which meant that someone had guided them here. Garbage that Ibiki-san and Inochi-san would find and destroy.

I paused thinking of what else to say. The sounds of screams were getting closer. I swallowed my feelings, anger, fear, sadness, as I listened to my fellow villagers—helpless civilians!—get slaughtered. It had only been a few minutes still from when Naruto and I had first felt the massive spike in chakra. 10 minutes since then-no more than 15 I was sure. I slowed my breathing, still trying to keep track of time.

Naruto took advantage of the lull to add his own words. "We're gonna defend the village no matter what. We'll stop these bastards. Believe it!"

"WE will stop these bastards." Sasuke repeated, stressing the we. "Team 7, this is our chance to prove why we fight." He took on almost maniacal look to his face, the red gleam of his sharingan gaining an almost demonic look. "For Konoha!"

I held back an inappropriate giggle as I watched the first group of invaders- from the west wall then-launch themselves towards us. I tracked their movement with my eyes, noting how swiftly and matter of factly they moved in our direction, navigating the windy streets as they grew closer to the academy. The streets were intentionally more confusing here as you got closer to the tower, which meant not only did they know the general direction of the academy but the specific streets to get here.

"Do you ever realize how brainwashed we are?" I asked conversationally, gripping my sword tighter and loosening my stance further. "We might die and yet I agree with you completely. Anything for the village. Even our lives?"

Sasuke leapt back and up onto a higher branch were he could see more of the court yard and still have a good opening to attack if we needed him.

Naruto warily created a few clones. "NO dying allowed. Everything up and to our lives. But so help me god, if one of you die I'm gonna be pissed."

"You're right." I agreed carelessly. "Can you imagine how many laps Kakashi sensei would have us doing if we just went and died in our first real fight."

"Take your own advice," Sasuke mumbled. He launched a few kunai at the men as they landed in the yard in front of us. The enemy ninja didn't stop for small talk, splitting into two groups, one running towards the academy doors and to other launching at us. Sasuke yanked his kunai back, twisting his fingers like a puppet master and tangling all the the invaders with the now taut ninja wire. Their plan to break off had been swiftly ended by Sasuke's competence.

Naruto and I neatly moved in, killing the men. "Take your own advice today." Sasuke said again, gesturing to the 4 dead ninja on the ground in front of us. "I don't kill anyone, just incapacitate them. But I also don't almost die, unlike you on every other major fight."

I flipped off Sasuke, my eyes already on the next group of approaching ninja. Again, they didn't hesitate in the movement towards us—they came in a straight line, seeming to know exactly the direction to go in. We had waves of them approaching—I could see the different groups. "They must have known about the location of the academy. Look how many are coming directly here." I pointed out to my teammates, stressing the point. Dad had made to sure to note strategic points of interest in the village but i was sure that Naruto and Sasuke had never had it spelled out for them. Naruto nodded in agreement, pulling out a fresh kunai and preparing to launch himself into the fray.

"Just clones Naruto, I want to know that I'm not going to hit you when I go in for the kill." I waved carelessly back to Sasuke. "And fine, I won't die or pass out from chakra exhaustion. Happy?"

"You shouldn't have to promise that much! That's called being a good ninja!" Sasuke cried out annoyed, following Naruto and I in our leap to meet the incoming ninja. He threw a shuriken neatly at one of the men's throats, stopping him in his tracks, Presumably the leader because he was in pointe. A dangerous smile grew on my face.

"Besides" Naruto pointed out quite unreasonably, "You never agreed to not almost die and thats been a pretty big issue. What with the Zabuza thing, than the tower incident."

"Fine! I won't die, almost die, or become too injured during an invasion on our fucking village. NOW are you fucking happy?" I said exasperated. I bared my teeth at group of men who'd stopped at their leader's death. They looked slightly alarmed at our (my) language. "Let's get rid of this group then before the rest of the fuckers join them. Then we can sort out wording on your promises. I want someone to buy me lunch after all this is said and done."

"Oh no! I never warned Teuchi-san! Do you think the ramen stand will be okay?!"

It was bloody and exhausting work. It also felt a bit fantastical and like a horror story all at once. Unreal was probably the word for it. We tried out best to keep the levity to keep from going insane- with the amount of death, murder, and fire around us, it would have been too easy to fall of the cliffs of sanity. A giant snake was thrashing over the market section of Konoha and homes that I had grown up around were being destroyed in the blink of an eye. In the slight pauses we had, team 7 took advantage by drinking water or forcing down ration bars. We continued our conversation desperately, forcing a sense of normality that was nearly comical.

The sheer amount of men we'd killed was alarming. The grand total of team 7's kills was 27- an astronomical amount for a green genin team. And not all of them had been easy fights. Most took time as the better ninja were arriving later and we were more and more drained as we faced them. True to sensei's analysis, they were mostly lower and mid ranked chunin that had no sense of teamwork so we could handle them, but the higher ranked chunin were wearing us down, injuring us, and just generally making this shit show of a job more difficult than it needed to be. The day dragged on, the sun inching across the sky. The only thing that remained constant was the smell of smoke and fire all around us. Somewhere, the village was burning and there was no one trying to stop it.

I lost track of time, only numbly aware that it was passing as men tried to get by our team and into the academy. We'd made every pretense that it was occupied so that the men continued their assault on us rather than search for the evacuation areas where the children really were. They seemed to believe it, thinking we had no reason to preemptively evacuate the children.

Sasuke hissed in pain to my left and without thinking, I formed the seals and threw out a shadow to catch the ninja who had struck my teammate. All the practices together gave me a vague idea of where Sasuke and Naruto were at all times, even neither of them were wearing their normal outfits. In many ways it was different then the training we'd received. I pivoted, keeping on hand formed in a loose seal to maintain my shadow tendrils hold on the kunoichi. My other hand dipped to swipe up at the exposed stomach. I sliced at her and jumped away breaking my hold. She tried to move to attack us again, but my strike had just about eviscerated her. Sasuke quickly stepped forward and stabbed her through the ear. He left the kunai there as she dropped to the floor.

"Great job!" Naruto called excitedly from where he was enthusiastically beating the shit out a sound ninja. "You managed that one hand, didn't you?" Another ninja jumped in and Naruto quickly broke into two clones. I leapt up and engaged the sound nin, leaving the intruding sand to be dealt with by three Naruto's—an original and two clones.

Even for being one handed, my reacting shadow had been sluggish; I needed another chakra pill but I had already had one. For my body size, it was highly recommended that I stuck to one a day to limit damage to chakra coils.

"Yea, I guess I did." I was kind of amazed. "Practice makes perfect I guess."

"You stupid bitch-"The ninja was shouting something derogatory about my skills and practicing but I ignored him, wiping spittle off my face. He'd be dead soon.

"Let's try and go two for two?" I asked my teammates rhetorically, focusing on the ninja in front of me. I tried to form the seals in one hand and simultaneously block the taijutsu user from punching me in the face. He was a good target; if he'd been trying to hit me with a bunch of ninjutsu I wouldn't have had so much time to try and form the seals again.

After a minute of struggle, I stopped floundering with the seals and focused on the kenjutsu. After a helpful assist from Sasuke, I struck the man down.

"That's 31" Naruto cried out, as he finally cut the sand nin down.

"And I couldn't do it again." I said glumly. I wiped my forehead and was disgusted to see brown dirt and blood come off in clumps. I curled my lip in disgust. "I wasn't even thinking about it the first time, so I wonder why it was so easy."

"Maybe you're over thinking it." Naruto said watching the streets, and eve roof tops just in case, for more enemies. We'd migrated on rooftop over from the academy to maintain the higher ground as well as keep visibility and lack of damage to the academy. We wanted to limit property damage and were trying to drag all the fights to the attached training yard of the academy.

"On another note, I think the next psych visit is gonna be much smoother then the first one." Naruto added.

I snorted at him. "Ya think? Hey there kiddo. Do you have any impulsive urges to kill? Only to invading and hostile ninja? Well have fun then!" I mimed the evaluators.

Naruto burst out laughing and Sasuke frowned at us. "There is definitely something wrong with us for making so many jokes right now. More so you guys then me though."

I stared at my dark haired teammate incredulously. "Sasuke you made a pun about someone being gassy after you blew them up with a fire jutsu. If we have problems, so do you. I think its just easier to crack a few joke then stay serious the whole time. Also, side note, that fire attack smelled disgusting. Think you can toss in some incense or something next time?"

Both my teammates were quiet for a long moment taking in my words and request then Sasuke spoke up, disregarding my second point completely. "I think we should just never mention the jokes unless they explicitly ask. I mean we all seem a little too casual about this…"

I nodded. Naruto called out, "Agreed! I mean, I know it's our jobs and all but I don't think we're supposed to be so okay with it." as he into his pack for another exploding note.

"Besides, they're just going to think we're lying. Everyone always acts like they're witty as fuck when they tell their battle stories but holy shit we are actually funny." I added. Neither one of them said anything, but they also didn't disagree so I like to think they were silently agreeing. Besides, it wasn't like we actually liked killing anyone. I didn't anyway—but I liked defending my village. I liked how smooth my wakizashi felt sliding through bone and sinew. I liked how strained my muscles felt right now; a painful sore that felt so good as I pushed myself to my limits. I liked all of that. Not the whole wanton murder thing.

We'd reached 35 kills before we could all agree that the rushes of desperate ninja had finally stopped. I eyed my teammates critically. Sasuke was injured, a deep slash to his arm. My limited first aid skills had merely allowed me to wrap it in a clean bandage. Naruto, although covered in blood, a good amount I knew was his own, didn't have a single bruise or cut on him. I was bone tired and freezing cold from near chakra exhaustion but had mostly bumps and bruises on me with a few light scratches here and there. Nothing deep or debilitating. I was neither dead, near dead, or fully chakra exhausted, as I'd promised my teammates earlier.

The sun was no longer high in the sky, instead it was drooping lower and lower into the horizon, signaling it was soon to be nightfall. Even when it grew suspiciously quiet all around us, we stayed on high alert, standing in a loose triangle formation and twitching at the wind. When a team finally landed in front of us, we nearly attacked them from habit. As it was, we instead jumped back from the ANBU team.

They eyed the carnage all around us silently, as they were want to do. There was a dead body hanging limply from a slightly moving swing on the tree, which I found morbidly amusing but most of the bodies were laid out on the ground, splayed out, usually with weapons still in hand. There was also children's practice kunai and shrunken littering the ground among bloody real weapons that were scattered throughout the yard. And perhaps even gorier than the bodies were the random dismembered limbs decorating the area; fingers and hands separated from the ninja by my own wakizashi were interspersed with the real and practice kunai on the floor.

Sasuke relaxed at the sight of reinforcements but I stayed tense. I didn't recognize any of these chakra signatures, which meant nothing because I knew very few ANBU members. But I did know from the wave mission that it was fairly easy to impersonate them. Add mask and hope no one questioned you.

'REPORT' one of the ANBU signed. They stood in a loose diamond formation, the four of them still looking more tense than either Naruto or I. I raised my sword slightly higher and shifted my stance.

Mirroing my attitude, Naruto called out. "Oy! How do we know you're actually on our side?"

I nodded slowly. We'd been a targeted and focused area of attack today- the academy wasn't a closely guarded secret but it also wasn't a startlingly obvious attack. This was MUCH more action than the academy should have seen. Someone had wanted to kill our academy students and uproot the next generation of Konoha. Someone had pointed the groups of men in this direction, possibly a potential traitor.

One of the ANBU flashed a quick sign, then another and another. I recognized the parts of the sequence as one I'd seen Shisui and dad preform on different occasions but I didn't know enough to recognize what they were saying. Still, just because I didn't know what it meant didn't make it any less proof of legitimacy for now. Especially because the academy was currently empty.

I felt all my fatigue hit as I lowered my wakizashi from it's ready stance. Naruto also loosened his posture.

Giving simple hand signs in the code that we understood rather then the ANBU specific one, one of the ANBU, the fish with the green hair, ordered us to go to the hospital and await orders.

"We're not injured." Sasuke claimed instantly.

I shook my head wearily feeling the bone deep chill settle further in my bones. The order hadn't been to get treated, it had been 'GET ORDERS'. This long day wasn't over yet. "We're not going for treatment. We arnt injured enough for treatment. Its probably where command has been set up. One or more of the command chain has been injured enough to be in the hospital. And the hospital is far enough away from both attack points." I pointed out helpfully to Sasuke. He loosened his newly tense posture and let out a quiet 'Oh."

One of the ANBU inclined their head and the fish again signed to us. 'GO. NOW.'

We nodded, then began the trek to the hospital. It was hardly a smooth journey. We encountered one enemy on the way; more dangerously, we encountered fellow leaf ninja, most of whom took a second before realizing we were on their side. There was a phrase that could be said to fellow leaf ninja but it changed nearly every month and considering we'd been out fo the village team 7 was delayed on this. Giving out an old password was even more dangerous because it seemed like we had an in to village intel. I was happier to see sand and sound ninja than leaf which was saying something.

The closer we got to the hospital, the more groups we encountered. Finally, we were greeted by a perimeter guard who asked us to declare ourselves and state our business. I could sense some dangerous presence hiding in the trees above. I wondered if there were more I couldn't sense or if people were just too tired to hide their chakra at this point.

"Team 7- Kageko Nara, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. We were relieved from guarding the Academy by an ANBU team and sent to the hospital to await new orders." I said dully, my voice coming out monotone from the exhaustion.

He glanced us over, then waved us by. "Straight ahead. Go to the hospital lobby. You'll find a command desk with orders on where to go and what to do next." He looked sympathetic. "You'll want to eat on the way; you're probably going to be assigned something the moment you report."

I nodded in assent and pulled out yet another ration bar. This was my third of the day and I was still hungry. The amount of exercise and chakra we'd burned today was ridiculous. I was still cold and I could feel the ache in my bones with every step I took. I was more chakra drained than I wanted to admit.

I led the way into the hospital. Now that we'd past the perimeter, there were ninja everywhere, all running around with a clear purpose. I didn't bother looking around to see anyone. I just noted Konoha headbands and continued onwards, too tired to do and more than that.

The hospital doors were propped open with yet another set of guards around them. I distantly recognized one of them- he had a bandana around his head and every time I'd seen him around the village he'd always had a senbon in his teeth. The other guard I didn't recognize, a tall blonde man, who almost put Uncle Inoichi's hair to shame. But he didn't have the look of a Yamanaka.

They both nodded us in and we stepped into the quiet flurry of people indoors. The amount of people surrounding us had me tensing up and feeling claustrophobic. I glanced around, looking at people filling out paper work, leaning over tables and discussing things before finding the command table in the back left corner, nearly opposite where we'd come in. Our group made our way thought the crush of people and joined the line of people to report. I mentally jumped-having just been thinking of him, here was Inochi-san, one of the three people at the table.

The group in front of us reported and team 7 listened in seamlessly so we knew what to do.

"No significant injuries. We were on the street defending the area near the market. It got attacked during out patrol." The red head boy holding up his concussion-ed looking teammate announced. I didn't know that I agreed with his assessment but couldn't honestly say I would have done any differently. How could I say that anyone on my team was injured when I could hear the screams of my fellow ninja in the upper floors of the hospital as this very report was being given?

"Rank?" A stern faced and elderly looking ninja asked, not bothering to look up at the group.

"Chunin."

"Corp or track?" He asked finally looking up impatiently. He looked dispassionately on the group.

"Chunin Corp." The red head answered proudly.

"Your assigned to the residential district near the west wall. Report there to Nara Shikanai for help reinforcing the wall." Nodding in assent the leader grabbed the hastily written scroll being proffered to him.

As they moved aside, I stepped forward. Not wanting to be the cause of further delay, I announced. "Genin track, team 7. Relieved from guarding the academy and awaiting further orders. No significant injuries."

Inochi-sans eyes popped up at my voice and he took a quick glance at us before giving me a slight approving nod.

The third person at the table looked us over carefully before he shoved the older man. "Uchiha heir. Can't have him on body cleanup."

The older man looked at the younger ninja, my cousin Nara Shikano, in annoyance, before glaring at us like this was somehow out fault. I nodded in acknowledgement to my cousin, and he returned my greeting tiredly.

"Go get treated." He announced gruffly to Sasuke.

I frowned. "Sir, with all respect, we're not injured. We can and want to continue helping the village." I saw Sasuke nod emphatically out of the corner of my eye. Naruto nodding just as vigorously.

The older man frowned at us, then wrote out a new set of orders. "Go report to Harui-san, on the other side of the room. You'll be running messages."

I nodded, thankful that we had been given another mission—it would be shameful to do nothing when so many of our fellow ninja were out here still suffering to regain control of our village.

Harui-san was leading a discussion over a table that had a map of the village and seemed to be in charge of all the people surrounding him. He also looked vaguely familiar but it took me a moment to place him. When he held out a hand and demanded "Scroll!" from the approaching genin, I felt an out of place grin on my face. "Sakura-chan's sensei." I mumbled to my team as we approached him.

When he barked "Scroll!" at me, I felt a tinge of amusement that I actually had a scroll to offer him this time, unlike the last time I had seen the man.

He quickly read through our new orders scroll and then grabbed two new scrolls from the table.

"Bring those to Hokage-san on the second floor of this building." He ordered. "Bring this one" he handed me a purple scroll to go along with the two white ones, "to Morino Ibiki, in the T&I cells."

I winced. The cells were all the way by Hokage tower, or right next to the Academy. Still I nodded and handed the scrolls off to Naruto. We headed towards the staircase; this one was guarded by ANBU. They looked over the two scrolls carefully before allowing us upstairs.

I glanced outside one of the windows as we walked up the stairs. It had been a long day and there seemed to be no end in sight. I sighed and picked up the pace; this was no time to be lazy.

Next chapter all this goody feels good Yay we did it team! stuff goes away! so enjoy it for now! :)


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